and we begin this morning with a defiant denial. at a news conference yesterday, republican presidential hopeful, herman cain, insisted he has never sexually harassed anyone. blaming mounting accounts of inappropriate behavior on a quote democrat machine. meanwhile, as cain s camp worked to discredit his first accuser to go public, we learned the identity of one of the first women to actually file a complaint. nbc s steve handelsman reports. i don t even know who this woman is. reporter: herman cain went after his first accuser to go public. the day after sharon bilic said cain groped and pushed her in 1997. simple charges. they did not happen. cain s campaign listed lawsuits against her. the democrat machine in america has brought forth a troubled woman to make false accusations. but bielic denied her
sensitive equipment and illegal immigration in the center of arizona history. you re in the situation room. captions by vitac www.vitac.com we begin with the breaking news. political and financial chaos within the european union, sending fresh shock waves through wall street and world financial markets. stocks plunging in new york today on all three indices with the dow tumbling about 400 points amid a growing debt crisis in italy. and the third largest in europe. let s bring in our own financial expert, cnn s erin burnett, the host of erin burnett outfront. the markets taking a major tumble today because of what s happening in italy, is that right? that really is the reason why. europe continuing to not dealing with its problems. right around 388 points to the downside as the final trades come in. what s happening in europe is causing all kinds of problems. general motors came out and said we can t even put out forecasts for what we re going to do in europe and as