we begin with both presidential campaigns getting down and dirty on the low road as the candidates themselves try to stick to the high road. the latest examples, killer tv ad that the obama campaign is using to welcome so-called welcome mitt romney to pennsylvania. and a top romney's surrogates complaint that the president should "learn how to be an american." let's go to our white house correspondent, dan lothian, watching all of this unfold. we've been saying it's getting ugly. >> reporter: certainly right. the fireworks today. the president was in texas attending a total of fundraisers trying to camp up in the campaign cash. some of those were with small donors, others with big names like tv star eva longoria. but today was more about money. the president was also going after his opponent, mitt romney, for more details about his personal finances. it won't help create jobs. and it won't ease the pain of homeowners stuck in upside down mortgages, but the obama re-election campaign is convinced that questioning mitt romney's finances and private equity resume is legitimate. answers that voters deserve. >> that is hardly a personal attack. that goes to the rationale for his candidacy. >> reporter: so in two places at once, texas in person, pennsylvania on tv, the president launched a blistering attack on his opponent. first on his time at bain capital. >> he made money investing in companies that have been called pioneers of outsourcing. i don't want pioneers of outsourcing in the white house. i want somebody who believes in insourcing. >> reporter: then in the new ad on releasing more of his personal taxes. >> makes you wonder if some years he paid any taxes at all. we don't know because romney's released just one full year of his tax returns. >> reporter: the battle for pennsylvania cannot be understated even though democrats in presidential races have held the state since 1992 and president obama won by ten points in 2008, the keystone state appears to be in play. where the former massachusetts governor was holding a rally standing in front of a sign that read "obama's upside down economy." >> he's got no new ideas for getting the economy going. he's got no one to blame. he's out of touch with what's happening in the country. >> reporter: but the harshest counterpunch came from john sununu. on a campaign conference call referred to team obama for "a bunch of liars" and then criticized the economy this way. >> i wish this parent would learn how to be an american. >> reporter: he later clarified saying he hoped the president would establish whate said was an american formula for creating businesses creating an environment where entrepreneurs could thrive. he said he wished he could have better explained that the first time around and could apologize. nonetheless the obama campaign was quick to react saying the romney campaign has "officially gone off the deep end" a." >> thanks very much, john sununu will be here live this hour in "the situation room." give him a chance to explain precisely what he said he now acknowledges he misspoke in that conference call. let's bring in our cnn chief political analyst gloria borger in "the situation room" as well. the ad we just saw in dan's piece, part of a broader picture that the obama administration, the obama campaign is trying to project. >> as you know this is the summer when it's time to define your opponent. it's not rocket science here, wolf. what the obama campaign is trying to do is paint a very, very unflattering portrait of mitt romney. he is, according to the obama campaign, secretive, tax avoiding businessman who outsources jobs and cares nothing about the middle class. that is of course on top of his wealth. so it's a caricature but sometimes care ka churs can stick particularly when you're spending $25 million a month most of which is in negative advertising. so that can stick. and the problem for romney right now is that unless he releases his taxes or continues to -- or give some more information about his taxes or even bain, these questions will be raised. don't forget, wolf, you were there. these questions were raised by his republican opponents in the primaries by rick perry and newt gingrich. and rick perry asked the question aloud at a cnn debate saying we can't change candidates in september, you've got to disclose now. >> tough words at the time coming back a little bit obviously right now. there's one layer of attack that the president has, but his surrogates, his aides, his advisors, are a lot more fierce, shall we say. let me play a few clips. >> this is the most secretive candidate since richard nixon. >> he and his campaign leadership need to put their big boy and big girl pants on and defend his record. >> if you're signing federal documents that aren't actually true, it is a felony. but that -- we're not accusing mitt romney of committing a crime here. >> now, usually the advisors, the surrogates, are a lot tougher when the candidate themselves especially a sitting president. what's going on here? >> it's a high road/low road strategy. the president answers the questions when asked about bain capital or romney's taxes and say it's a legitimate form of inquiry. but what you hear from the surrogates is a low road. and i would point out with john sununu that it is on both sides that you hear this from the surrogates. and they take the low road. they sling the mud. and of course this is what of course the vice presidential candidate can help with too because generally vice presidential candidates are the hatchet men. >> romney's clearly been on the defensive a lot over the last week, ten days shall we say. what does he need to do to change the situation? >> i think he needs to get more comfortable, first of all, in talking about his wealth. he's never been comfortable talking about it during the primaries. he still isn't. he may need to disclose his taxes or more about his taxes, talk more about bain. be a little more informational about it. because otherwise you play into this whole notion of secrecy that the obama campaign is talking about. then i would argue, what he needs to do is change the subject. maybe one of those ways to change the subject is to talk about, hey, why don't we have congress stay in washington in august. one republican suggested this to me today. why not have congress stay in washington in august and deal with the problems of the fiscal cliff before the election rather than after the election. i would argue that if either romney did that or president obama did that, that would have some residents with the american public who actually wants to get these problems solved. >> good point, gloria. >> there you go. >> thanks very much, gloria borger. thank you. let's go to jack cafferty right now. he's got more in the cafferty file. jack. >> congress in washington in the month of august. i don't think that's ever happened, has it? >> got to be a national emergency. >> well, you know, this is one. we're going over the edge here come january 1st. young voters are not nearly as excited about this presidential election. and that could doom president obama's chances for a second term. a new gallup poll shows only 58% of registered voters between the ages of 18 and 29 say they will definitely vote this fall. that is far below the current national average of 78% for all registered voters. it's also at least 20 points below the percentage of young people who plan to vote in the fall of both 2004 and 2008. young voters were one of the key voting blocks in president obama's 2008 victory over john mccain. they overwhelmingly support the president again this time around, but historically they show up to vote in lower numbers than other groups. there's a growing sense the outcome of this election could come down to turnout. and if that's the case, the relative lack of interest among the young people not a good sign for the president. of course, it's only july. president obama and mitt romney both have more than three months to fire this group up. the poll also shows the percentage of blacks who say they will definitely vote is similar to the national average this year. however, hispanic registered voters who overwhelmingly support president obama are another group with the lowest expected turnout, just 64% of hispanics in the poll say they will definitely vote. again, not a good sign for the president. back to the young people for a minute. the outcome of this election will be enormous for the country. we're facing many critical problems including high unemployment, run away national death, the fiscal cliff we're referring to. those under the age of 30 have a huge stake in all this because whether we elect president obama or mitt romney, it could have a big impact on what kind of america they will inherit. here's the question, what's it going to take to get young voters excited again? go to cnn.com/caffertyfile, post a comment on my blog. or go to our post on the "the situation room" facebook page. wolf. >> he's got to get them excited if he's going to win states like north carolina or virginia or ohio or michigan. some of these battleground states, pennsylvania to be sure. he's got to get that base out there. young people, certainly african-americans, hispanics, the way they turned out four years ago. as you know, jack, it's not going to be easy. >> well, in north carolina for example, i think president obama could have hurt himself with his stand on gay marriage because that isn't playing well in a lot of the african-american churches in a place like north carolina. so he could have done himself some damage there. he's going to have to get the young people fired up to come out for him again like he did last time. >> as you say, he's got more than three months. let's see how he does. we'll see what romney does as well. thank you. >> okay. standby, we have some remarkable pictures we're going to show you. bales of marijuana, bricks 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year alone the operation seized more than 100 tons of cocaine worth more than $2 billion. lisa sylvester's taking a closer look at what's going on. lisa, these missions, they are stopping a lot of illegal stuff from getting into the country. >> absolutely right, wolf. in fact, today almost four tons of cocaine and marijuana were brought ashore. that's the take after several months at sea chasing drug runners. and here's an inside look at how those fugitives and their loot were caught. you're looking at a high-speed chase, suspected drug smugglers on a souped up go-fast boat last month in pacific central america. in their wake they're leaving suspicious packages thrown overboard. a helicopter marks the location with smoke markers for ships to retrieve. the suspects are being pursued by an armada helicopter, surveillance planes, navy ships. but they still try to flee. 16 miles later the jig is up. a gunner on a helicopter targets the engines with gunfire. >> we were able to employ our aerial use of force with our precision marksman to shoot out the engines. >> reporter: a tactical team suits up and heads out on a zodiac to board the crippled speedboat. this could go peacefully or there might be trouble. the boat looks like it's sinking. the team takes several suspects into custody. the boat is a goner. by nightfall over 25 packages of drugs have been fished out of the water and chemically tested. >> there was approximately 220 kilograms of cocaine and 125 kilograms of marijuana. >> reporter: this was one of several high-volume intradictions at sea over the past months by an operation task force. the results, almost four tons of cocaine and marijuana, which is just been brought to jacksonville, florida. its value, about $93 million wholesale. the joint operation combines two services that are sometimes rivals, the coast guard and the navy. technically they can re-flag a navy ship to make it a coast guard cutter, more suitable for actions. >> if i need to be a cutter to help them execute a mission, i'm happy to do that. >> reporter: sometimes the chase results in the fugitives surrendering. but not always. in this chase back in march, the suspects tossed their load, jumped ship and their speedboat out of control shot up on to the beach. >> every bust that we had was just amazing. and just to see that in action was awesome. >> the four tons of drugs brought ashore this morning will be turned over to the d.e.a. >> impressed they got that engine on that fast boat, they stopped that the way they did. >> yeah, they did. as you saw, that fast boat ended up sinking. i mean, those things go pretty fast. hence the name obviously. but they're doing some good work out there. >> they stopped this one, but there will be a lot more effort. there's a lot of money at stake. it will continue, this war on drugs. it's been going on for a long, long time. i suspect it will continue, no end in sight. thanks very much, lisa, for that. a famous actress appeared front and center today in the fight against human trafficking. jada pinkett smith testified before senate committee earlier today on a hearing on how to fight the growing problem of human smuggling. she got involved after her 11-year-old daughter talked to her about it and made her aware of just how widespread the issue is. she's an advocate for the website, don'tsellbodies.com. she stressed today it doesn't take much to help. >> fighting slavery doesn't cost a lot of money. the cost of allowing it to exist in our nation and abroad are much higher. it robs us of the thing we value the most, our freedom. and we know what that freedom is worth. we have paid a high price to defend it here and abroad. >> the justice department says hundreds of victims are discovered right here in the united states every year. most are forced into slavery to sell drugs or sex. so did one of the world's biggest banks help drug cartels and terrorist sns you're going to hear why senate nvrgtss say the answer is yes to 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could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. one of the world's largest banks is being accused of being a tool for the drug lords and the terrorists. executives of hsbc were grilled by a u.s. senate committee today. they allegedly ignored repeated warnings of extensive money laundering through the bank's accounts. our own jill dougherty's been going through wlahat's going on over at that senate hearing all of the allegations. jill, what are you hearing? >> wolf, what they're saying -- the senate subcommittee is saying, is that hsbc's money laundering controls were so weak that it exposed the u.s. financial system not only to money laundering, but to drug trafficking and even terrorist financing. you've probably seen the commercials, one of the world's biggest banks, london-based hsbc, trying to claim a stake in the american market. but before it does, the banking giant is under investigation by the u.s.enate accused of turning a blind eye to billions of dollars in money transfers by drug cartels and even terrorist groups. >> why is it that the bank -- the bank that's the group bank that sees these kind of problems just doesn't flat out hold some folks accountable and fire some folks. >> reporter: at a senate hearing tuesday, a senior hsbc official, david baggily, offered to resign. >> now is the appropriate time for me and for the bank for someone new to serve as the head of group compliance. >> reporter: the money laundering stretched across the world. hsbc's mexico unit shipped $7 billion in cash to the bank's u.s. affiliate. law enforcement officials say the only way to account for that much money is if it was drug money. >> we've closed branches in areas where there's a high risk of money laundering. we're now in the process of closing all the hsbc mexico accounts in the caymans. >> reporter: a senate report also found that hsbc worked with a saudi arabian bank some owners linked to terrorist groups including evidence indicates al qaeda. there's even more information, wolf, about iran. hsbc's u.s. affiliate, this report says, handled nearly 25,000 transactions that were involving iran in spite of course u.s. sanctions against iran. some bank were aware of the transactions and the european affiliates stripped out information that linked them to iran. and the bank itself in a review said that they had found nearly $20 billion of this type of transactions. now, the senate subcommittee does say that hsbc has been cooperating and providing documents, but they also criticize government regulators who they say allowed this problem to fester for years. and then finally, wolf, lots of information here, the justice department also has its own investigation of hsbc. >> i suspect a lot more is about to come out. thanks so much for that report, jill dougherty. meanwhile, also here in washington the fed chairman, ben bernanke, gave investors a bit of hope today. lisa sylvester's back. she's monitoring that story. what d