campaign. i'm wolf blitzer and you're in "the situation room." but, first, breaking news this hour. congressman anthony weiner flatly denying that he posted a lewd photo on his twitter account but tells me he can't say for sure if the image of a man's underwear is him or not. weiner sat down with me a short while ago up on capitol hill in his office as part of his attempt to move beyond the controversy and his testy exchange with reporters yesterday. here's part one of the interview. >> thank you for joining us. >> thank you. >> did you send that picture to that college student in washington state? >> i did not. she says she never got it and doesn't know me. i certainly don't know her. this seems like it was a prank to make fun of my name. when you're named weiner, that happens a lot. got 45,000 some odd followers. this seems like a prank that has gotten an enormous amount of attention. >> this is the picture, i'm sure you've seen it by now. is this you? >> i can tell you this. we have a firm that we've hired -- i've seen it. i've seen it. a firm that we've hired to get to the bottom of it. i can tell you this, that photos can be manipulated, photos can be of one thing and changed to look like something else. we're going to get to the bottom of it. maybe jon stewart last night had it right. but we're going to find out. look, this has turned into an international who done it. what i think it really was was a prank. i'm trying to get back to the work that i'm doing. >> weapon want to resolve it once and for all. you wouldn't know if this is your underpants, for example? >> the question is -- i appreciate you continuing to flash that at me. look, i've said the best i can, that we're going to try to get to the best of what happened here. and photos can be doctored and i want to make sure that we know for sure what happened here. it certainly doesn't look familiar to me but i don't want to say with certitude to you that i don't know to be the certain truth. but i do know i didn't send any twitter picture. the person who allegedly it was sent to, this poor woman who was a victim in all of this didn't get it. she put out a statement saying as much. i don't know her. she doesn't know me. it seems to me that this is what goes on in the internet world and social media world in 2011 that sometimes these things happen. hundreds and thousands of times, just about every week, people have spam and hacking that goes on. it seems like i was a victim of that and i don't consider it that big of a federal offense but people want to pay attention to it and i get it. when you're named weiner, it goes with the territory. >> have you ever taken a picture like this of yourself? >> i can tell you this, i have photographs. i don't know what photographs are out there in the world of me. i don't know what have been manipulated and doctored. but the most important reason i want to find out what happened is to make sure that it doesn't happen again. obviously somebody got access to my account. that's bad. they sent a picture that makes fun of the name weiner. i get it. touche. at the time it happened, i tweeted right away that i got the joke and i continued on with my life. and i think that, frankly, that's what i would encourage everyone to do. i don't believe this is a big federal issue. >> but you would like to get to the to the bottom of it. >> have i called the cops or fbi because someone spent spam? no. however, i did get a firm, a law firm that specializes in these things, who specializes in white collar crime, they are going to get an internet security expert to get to the bottom of how we secure my accounts. every day, wolf, people have stuff like this that happens. every day it doesn't become a federal case. just because it happened to congressman weiner on his personal account doesn't mean the taxpayers should have to pay for a big investigation that goes on for years, wait for it, who sent a picture of someone in shorts on the internet on an account of a guy named weiner? i don't think it rises to that level. >> but have your lawyers suggested to you that a crime may have i'm a guy joufting people all the time. i follow you. excellent twitter feed. it doesn't necessarily mean that because it happened to anthony weiner, means that it should become a big federal investigation. i've he watched federal investigations to have gone on for years and chew up millions of dollars. for what? because someone sent a picture that never even got it and doesn't know me. i understand people may be curious about this particular case but at home people are saying, i get spam all the time and i don't call the copses. it's a terrible thing that happened but i lost thousands of dollars in a hacking. why should congressman get one. >> did you send direct messages or private messages to this woman in washington state? >> look, i'm not going to get into how i communicate with people on social media. i'm not going to open the door to did i send someone a note thank you for following me, tune in for the future. i don't want to open the door to you saying, what about this person, what did she say back? what did this person say? all i can say is this, there was nothing, as she said, inappropriate. there is standard communication that people have on social media. i tweet all the time. i have 45,000 followers. it's a playful, combative feed. i encourage people to go sign up at rep weiner. and this is what happens. sometimes people zing you back. >> do you do your own personal tweeting? >> i do, with some exceptions that is mass mail but it's linked to me. >> does anybody have your pass code? >> that's one thing that we're looking into. not that i know of. but as i tweeted that night and i fear we're going to find out that the security here was not particularly good and maybe it's going to turn out to be a worse situation than it looks right now. now it looks like a prank. we're desperately going to get back to business and that's why we're sitting down. >> here's what raises some suspicion. back on may 27th, you tweeted this. you said, heading to 30 rock to chat with rachel at 9:00. and then you said, that's 5:45 in seattle, i think. >> it's a terrible coincidence. that's all it. look. let me say this. in the past i've done a similar joke about other cities. >> why seattle? >> it was a pure coincidence. the twitter and it was a pure coincidence and frankly, you know, it's questions like this why i was a little bit, because i referenced seattle. and people are very come pat tif about republicans. i'm a very feisty -- >> i follow you on twitter. so i know. >> you know how feisty i am and how i lean into it and how i take spokes at them all the time. maybe somebody pumped him back to get even for all of those times. that's what i thought. and i would just say, you know, this person or anyone else who follows me, what did they do wrong here? they've done nothing wrong. why should they get reporters hounding them? why should i have people saying, why do you follow this person? well, this is twitter. it's gotten crazy and maybe i contributed to it by not being direct by it and maybe statements i put out on saturday and sunday, maybe having cameras follow my wife and taking a walk on monday, i came here yesterday and i want to talk about debt limit and health care reform. >> the debt limit, health care reform and all of that. >> okay. thank you. >> back on march 13th, a woman tweeted this. you know it's a good day when you wam up to a dm from @repweiner. do you have any idea who this woman is? were you sending her direct messages? >> this is another person who has gotten dragged into this for no reason other than she was following me and asked to be followed by me. i think this is a fairly pro forma thing that goes out, thank you for following me. please check in a at anthonyweiner.com. you're now going back to my twitter feed and other people not even me, you're explaining why they did that. i don't know who the woman is. i followed her for a moment and then someone said my goodness anthony weiner is following someone in that industry. >> did you send her a direct message? >> as a pro forma thing, thank you for following congressman weiner, for following me, stay tuned for updates of other things going on. please, i want to ask you, does this person, what did she do, beyond tweet something that she's a follower of mine, you can probably find hundreds of people that did that. i would hope that you would leave these people alone. i mean, come hound me but they didn't do anything wrong for following me on twitter. honestly, is that where we've come to. >> you've deleted some photos from your twitter account. why did you do that? >> i had no idea what happened that night and i was a little freaked out by it. >> have you asked followers to delete photos? >> no, i have not. i was tweeting about hockey. my tivo didn't record enough time so i missed the end of the tampa bay and boston game. i see this thing pop up. i immediately delete it. okay? i immediately delete the photo -- i thought i deleted the photo and then this -- without any password or anything, i was able to get into the account where this photograph was hosted somehow and other photographs in there as well, although it was nothing controversial in there. >> part two of the interview in "the situation room." i asked congressman weiner whether or not he was protecting someone and he says he in s in fact protecting someone. his answer and much more, part two of the interview coming up in "the situation room." there is other news we're following, including a new tornado touched down, reported just a while ago. this time, severe weather is threatening the east coast. plus, the reason stock prices took a nose-dive today. an outrage after suicidal man drowns while first responders simply watch. wait until you hear why they didn't even try to rescue him. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] and just like that, it's here. a new chance for all of us: people, companies, communities to face the challenges yesterday left behind and the ones tomorrow will bring. prudential. bring your challenges. he was all like "oh no, i cannot do investing." next thing you know he's got a stunning portfolio. shhhh, you're welcome. 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[ male announcer ] half a days worth of fiber. not that anyone has to know. fiber beyond recognition. fiber one. notthis past year aloneknow. there was a 93% increase in cyber attacks. in financial transactions... on devices... in social interactions... and applications in the cloud. some companies are worried. some, not so much. thanks to a network that secures it all and knows what to keep in, and what to keep out. outsmart the threats. see how at cisco.com cisco. the world needs more energy. where's it going to come from? ♪ that's why right here, in australia, chevron is building one of the biggest natural gas projects in the world. enough power for a city the size of singapore for 50 years. what's it going to do to the planet? natural gas is the cleanest conventional fuel there is. we've got to be smart about this. it's a smart way to go. ♪ jam cafferty is here with the cafferty file. >> in a new congressional research report, the figures are based on 2009 salaries. most recent data available. the information comes at a time when cutting the size of government is a hot button issue. almost a quarter of those of earning more than doctors. more than 18,000. the second highest percentage, air traffic controllers. i guess including the ones who sleep. about 5,000 of those out earn their state governors. there are 4,000 lawyers on the list, no surprise there, i guess. 22 librarians, and one interior designer. say what? governor salaries differ from state to state. the lowest is $70,000. that's from the governor of maine. the highest is california and colorado had the large more than 10,000. and a spokesman, a union that represents about 600,000 federal workers discounted the report telling the washington times that many of these employees work at higher paid medical fields and many have reached the salary levels after many years on the job. any way, here's the question. should federal employees earn more than the governors of the states where they work go to cnn.com/caffertyfile. wolf? chad myers, i understand that there's a tornado on the ground in new england? >> yes. yes. it has moved to the east of springfield, massachusetts, south of palmer. a big box there. it means the potential for tornadoes anywhere inside that box and there's a tornado on the ground here, southwest of woucester. there used to be a story of a kid hidden under the bridge. that is moving off to the east, north of moon socket. if it keeps going, it will track to the south of boston, massachusetts. another storm mere worster, that is spinning and could put a tornado down near wourster. we'll keep watching it. there's the video on the ground. that wassed it tornado crossing the connecticut river from west springfield to springfield. south of all of those buildings and it traveled about a mile and a half and we're lucky it didn't move over those skyscrapers. this tornado has been on the ground for many, many miles and doing damage a long time. i assume at this point in time we will have quite a few injuries as people can now get out of the way. you're in your car, on i-90, if you're inside of a building, stay there, if you see the storm coming. >> it's a beautiful part of new england. the western side. thanks, chad. we'll stay on top of this story together with you. stocks take a huge hit today. we'll tell you how far the dow fell and what triggered those losses. another key player, defecting. we'll tell you why this defection has to be especially painful for moammar gadhafi. membership rewards points from american express. they're a social currency with endless possibilities. sadly, no. oh. but i did pick up your dry cleaning and had your shoes shined. well, i made you a reservation at the sushi place around the corner. well, in that case, i better get back to these invoices... which i'll do right after making your favorite pancakes. you know what? i'm going to tidy up your side of the office. i can't hear you because i'm also making you a smoothie. [ male announcer ] marriott hotels & resorts knows it's better for xerox to automate their global invoice process so they can focus on serving their customers. with xerox, you're ready for real business. lisa sylvester is monitoring unwelcome news on wall street. lisa, what is going on? >> today, the dow tumbled 280 points. that's the largest drop in almost a year. and concerns over the bond rating downgraded again today. in libya, another major defection, affecting the life blood. oil. the oil minister and left because they are in shambles. creating the first round the clock all news cable channel. wolf? >> literally, lisa, he changed the world in multiple languages all over the world. thank you ted, very much. new warnings from the white house that really bad things will happen if congress doesn't raise the limit of the national debt soon. stand by with donald trump. there is a new urgency is raising the debt a day after the controlled house rejected the measure to increase the debt ceiling. republicans are insisting on government spending cuts that more than cover the debt limit. both sides were productive but the white house warns that there could be dire consequences that the debt ceiling is not raised and not raised soon. lisa sylvester is looking into the possible fall out and doing a reality check for us. what are you learning? >> the u.s. government spent more than it takes in and borrows to make up the difference. and the credit card is maxed out and the government could be in default if the debt ceiling is not raised, it could have a catastrophic effect on main street it lays out a frightening scenario. if investors and if congress continues to not act, social security and medicare checks could be stopped or delayed and services could be cut off to military families and unemployment benefits halted. the cost of borrowing for everything from a house to college tuition could rise steeply. one economist at the economic policy institute is saying the gop is playing chicken with a freight train. >> they are behaving like children. they are not getting their way so they are refusing to act. but it's incredibly irresponsible and they better come to their senses before august 2nd. >> the doomsday scenario has many average folks worried. >> we're doomed. i'm terrified, to be honest. >> we're losing the credit rating. next time we need to borrow, nobody will give us money to borrow. >> reporter: but republicans are holding the line, arguing the $14 trillion u.s. debt is a drag on the economy hindering job growth. they are demanding billions of dollars in spending cuts before signing off on raising the nation's debt ceiling by another $2.4 trillion. >> the fact that if we're going to raise the debt limit, the spending cuts should exceed the debt limit and otherwise it will serve to cost jobs in our country. >> reporter: republican lawmakers met with the president in what has been described as a frank discussion but so far no deal and there are agreements that it needs to stop. >> i just think that we need to stop spending as much. >> we should stop paying off the debt that we already have and then figure out, you know, how can we spend this money properly so we don't have to keep raising the ceiling. >> reporter: the debt ceiling has been raised repeatedly over the decades, 74 times since 1962 and it was easily defeated. republicans using that to make the case that it is time to cut spending. wolf? >> thank you very much, lisa. let's go to capitol hill. one of the republicans that took part in today's meeting with the president is the majority whip, kevin mccarthy. thank you for coming in. >> thank you for having me and happy anniversary to cnn. >> thank you. when all is said and done come august, it's going to be raised. isn't that right? >> it's been raised all the time before but what has to happen, if you raise the debt limit with no cuts or anywhere else, it could be a debt trimend to our credit and everywhere else. those buying our debt in 1970, foreign countries only owned 5%. today they own 40%. we had a warning that they could downgrade. we need to make a fundamental change. and between now and august, he would come up with a significant cut in spending that would enable you and your fellow republicans to go ahead and vote in favor of raising the debt ceiling? >> my actual question to the president was, we're beginning to build a relationship because we have not had one. you have to be trusted but verified. but the american public does not trust anyone. so i said why don't we agree in principle of a framework. the president should lay out a plan. but if you lay out a plan, cuts will continue to grow in the future and then entitlement reform. the only thing that the president agreed to in the end was reform when it came to the debt limit. >> are you encouraged about what the vice president is encouraged to do? meeting with republicans and democrats and does that look like it's gaining some steam? >> that's a start. and that's a point. but the president needs to make a case with the american people here. we cannot sit back and make august 2nd come here without getting a plan. earlier on they said there should be a clean debt limit with no cuts or anything else. more than 80 democrats met with republicans and said no to that. that idea is off the tabl