[Suzanne Malveaux, Cnn Anchor:] Top of the hour. I'm Suzanne Malveaux. Let's get you up to speed. President Obama made copies of his original birth certificate public today, making that public. The document shows Barack Hussein Obama II was born in Honolulu in 1961. It bears the signature of his late mother, Stanley Ann Dunham. The president says questions about his birthplace were overshadowing his agenda.
[Barack Obama, President Of The United States:] I know that there's going to be a segment of people for which no matter what we put out, this issue will not be put to rest. But I'm speaking to the vast majority of the American people, as well as to the press. We do not have time for this kind of silliness. We've got better stuff to do. I've got better stuff to do. We have got big problems to solve. And I'm confident we can solve them. But we're going to have to focus on them, not on this.
[Malveaux:] For years, birthers have claimed that the president was not born in the United States and was not constitutionally qualified to be president. Well, the latest noise had been coming from Donald Trump, who is toying with a run for the Republican nomination.
[Donald Trump, Entrepreneur:] Today I'm very proud of myself, because I have accomplished something that nobody else has been able to accomplish. I was just informed while on the helicopter that our president has finally released a birth certificate. I'd want to look at it, but I hope it's true.
[Malveaux:] Our CNN senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin joins us on the phone. And Jeff, you heard Donald Trump's remarks here, he's very proud of himself. Legally, the president had satisfied all the questions about where he was born, his birth certificate. This seems like this is certainly a political move. Do we think that is there any question at all, anything that's unresolved regarding what the president has put forward that someone could use to question his citizenship?
[Jeffrey Toobin, Cnn Sr. Legal Analyst:] Well, there is no factual dispute here. There has never been a factual dispute that sane people could disagree about. This is yet further proof that gravity exists and that Barack Obama was born in Hawaii. I doubt that the hardcore birthers will be satisfied by this, but I do think that this should resolve the issue in the minds of all but the absolute craziest of people.
[Malveaux:] And Jeffrey, you and I have talked about this. It's something that the president could have done a long time ago, opening up that vault and allowing for the original birth certificate to be made public here. Does this set up a dangerous precedent? Does it set up something where the president it is beneath him to have to open the vault and to bring this forward to the public? Is this a good idea?
[Toobin:] That's a hard question. I think the situation is so odd, that I don't think the issue of precedence will really come up very often. Look, Donald Trump is right, he is the person who raised this and got us in the news media to cover it sufficiently that it did become a big issue. I don't know that it was hurting the president politically. I think the people who were agitated about it were such hardcore opponents, they were never going to be persuaded, but I think the president was right that this dispute was certainly taking up a lot of time. I suspect that many of the birthers will continue, but Trump, who is rational, if cynical about this whole thing, may drop it.
[Malveaux:] All right, Jeff. Thank you so much, Jeffrey Toobin, for your perspective on all of this. Well, another story, violent storms, possibly tornadoes, clobbering the Deep South. That is happening today. Three new deaths are now confirmed in Mississippi. Several people are reported trapped in debris that is south of Huntsville, Alabama. The dangerous weather system will move through Atlanta area. That's going to happen tonight, before targeting the Carolinas. That's happening tomorrow, on Thursday. High water on the Ohio River helped pin four runaway barges underneath a railroad trestle in Pennsylvania today. Two of the barges eventually squeezed under the bridge. The water is so high, authorities may blow up a levee down river, where the Ohio meets the Mississippi, to ease the pressure. A shooter opened fire at Kabul airport today, killing nine people, six of them U.S. troops. Now, officials say an Afghan military pilot started shooting after he got into an argument with the troops. The Taliban claimed that the shooter was an insurgent who infiltrated the Afghan military, but NATO says that is not the case. Well, new assignments now for key players inside the Obama administration. President Obama is expected to announce tomorrow that he is moving CIA Director Leon Panetta to the Pentagon as defense secretary. Afghan war commander David Petraeus will replace Panetta at the CIA. Now, both nominations need Senate approval. The United States is telling Americans, think long and hard before making a trip to Mexico. And that is because of the surging drug violence there. The State Department has now expanded a travel warning. It now includes parts of the nine Mexican states shown with those red lines there and all of the states shaded in red. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, she is flying to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida right now. She's going to watch her husband, Mark Kelly, command the last flight of space shuttle Endeavour on Friday. Giffords has been recovering from a gunshot wound to the head at a Houston rehab hospital. Here's your chance to "Talk Back" about the big story of the day. President Obama, now releasing his original birth certificate. Our Carol Costello is here with the "Talk Back" question. It's the original. He had already supplied the official birth certificate, so he said it's additional information. People already had a lot to go with already.
[Carol Costello, Cnn Correspondent:] Yes, but will this put the issue to rest once and for all? That's what we're going to talk about today. The issue of President Obama's birth certificate just would not go away for months, years. The Obama team said the issue was settled, the certification of live birth they released in 2008 was enough. Now, in a stunning turnaround, the president decided to release his original birth certificate. Was it because of Donald Trump, who has hammered away at the issue for weeks, or other Republicans like Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann, who flirted with birtherism? Or was it just, as the president says, that he had had enough of all the "silliness"? Mr. Obama said the issue had become a distraction from the real problems facing our country. It could also be a distraction for the president's re-election campaign though. In a recent CNNOpinion Research Corporation poll, one-quarter of Americans believe the president was not born here. Not a majority, but a stubbornly significant minority. SoCarolCNN, and I'll read some of your responses later this hour.
[Malveaux:] I would be very curious. I know we're working on this, a CNN poll, to see, does it change people's opinion either way?
[Costello:] We'll see. You heard Jeffrey Toobin say for those hardcore people out there who believe that the president was not born in the United States, it won't change their mind. But hopefully that's a tiny, tiny sliver of Americans.
[Malveaux:] We'll see what the polls say and the viewers. It will be very interesting.
[Costello:] Yes.
[Malveaux:] Thanks, Carol. Here's a look at what's ahead "On the Rundown." Fresh gunfire in Daraa. The Syrian government, intensifying its bloody crackdown. A dangerous water rescue in Ohio after a teen gets in over his head. And we are waiting for the Federal Reserve decision on interest rates and Chairman Ben Bernanke's news conference. And, plus, a judge's sexuality is questioned in two fascinating legal cases. And Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. She is heading to Florida to watch her husband launch into space.