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CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports

President Bush Discusses Embryonic Stem Cell Research With Pope John Paul II

Aired July 23, 2001 - 20:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Tonight: As President Bush's agonizes over the question of federal funding for embryonic stem cell research, Pope John Paul adds to the pressure with an urgent plea. We'll get an update from Rome.

As police seek a fourth meeting with Congressman Gary Condit, Chandra Levy's parents have a message for him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ROBERT LEVY, CHANDRA LEVY'S FATHER: You know, just tell the truth.

SUSAN LEVY, CHANDRA LEVY'S MOTHER: Yeah.

DR. ROBERT LEVY: Really.

SUSAN LEVY: Tell the truth and...

DR. ROBERT LEVY: Tell everything he knows.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: I'll speak live with a Levy family attorney and friend.

And a vaccine for the nightmare that is Alzheimer's disease -- just a dream or on the way to reality? We'll have a report.

Good evening. I'm Wolf Blitzer, reporting tonight from Washington.

I'll get to my interview with Levy family friend and attorney Don Vance shortly.

But first, the president and the pope. They met today in Italy. John Paul II condemned the use of embryonic stem cells for research, even if that research could lead to cures for millions suffering from Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, diabetes and other ailments. Mr. Bush says he will carefully consider the pontiff's view but made no promises. And that's our top story.

The meeting, at a retreat in the hills near Rome, was the president's first with Pope John Paul, and clearly left Mr. Bush awestruck. The 81-year-old pontiff is increasingly frail, but his moral authority is still a powerful force, all the more so because the pope chose to deliver his appeal against embryonic stem cell research in a public statement.

He suggested research on human embryos is an "evil," along with euthanasia and infanticide, saying America must, quote, "reject practices that devalue and violate human life at any stage from conception to natural death."

The president says he'll take the pope's appeal into consideration as he weighs what he calls "a very difficult decision."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's the need to balance value and respect for life with the promise of science and the hope of saving life. And so I will go back home after what has been a very successful trip, continue to listen to points of view, and make up my mind when I'm ready to.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: A short while ago, I discussed the president's meeting with the pope and the stem cell dilemma with CNN senior White House correspondent John King who's in Rome.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

John, take us behind the scenes -- the extraordinary pressure that the president felt today from the pope. Is this likely to have a huge impact on the president's eventual decision?

JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, certainly, the president, Wolf, called the pope one of the great moral leaders of our time and said he would certainly take the pope's admonition about embryonic stem cell research into account. Hard to get more pressure than this. The issue did not come up in the closed meeting, when the two leaders met in private. It was when seated next to each other, the president just a few feet away from leader of the Roman Catholic church, the pope delivering that message in public, knowing full well it would be covered by the U.S. news media or, indeed, the global news media, and put public pressure on the president.

Still, at his news conference later in day, Mr. Bush said that was just one opinion, and he took pains to note that many scientists and doctors think this research would bring breakthroughs in medical research. So the president says this is the most agonizing decision of his still young presidency, and he will listen to the pope. Unclear whether he was swayed by it, though.

BLITZER: And as you, of course, know, the president has not been swayed by the pope's position opposing the death penalty. He's rejected the pope's position on that very, very sensitive issue, as well. Any indication when the president will reach his decision on embryonic stem-cell research? KING: No. And his senior aides have stopped guessing. Many had predicted the president would make this decision a few weeks back and announce before he made this trip to Europe, but the president said today he was still deliberating, said he was going to take time, that this was very important decision because of both the moral and -- the moral and ethical and the scientific questions involved. Most aides expect he will make it within the course of the next couple of weeks, but many of them said he would make it before this trip, as well, and they were proven wrong.

BLITZER: All right, John, shifting gears -- the whole issue of a missile defense shield, a major breakthrough potentially Sunday in Genoa, the meeting between President Bush and President Putin. Condoleezza Rice is off tomorrow to Moscow to begin talks on linking a missile defense system to a reduction in nuclear warheads, but that could take long time. And the Pentagon says within the next few months, they want to start deploying, at least breaking ground for a missile defense shield. Is there any reason to believe they can reach an agreement within only a few months on both of these very complex issues?

KING: Well, certainly, Wolf, the history of arms control negotiations would lead to you believe that the answer is no. But the president has said he's confident he can reach a deal, he's confident Mr. Putin comes to table with good faith. As you mentioned, Condi Rice will go to Moscow immediately after this trip to set up the framework for what they promise to be intensive negotiations.

It would be unprecedented, especially given the complexity of these issues, to reach a deal in just a few months. And it's because of that complexity, perhaps, that even as he said he was optimistic, the president bluntly served notice again today not only to the Russians but to the European allies, who are quite skeptical about missile defense, that if he cannot get a deal on the ABM treaty, he is prepared to break the treaty, to walk away from it from and to go ahead unilaterally with that program.

The big question might be if they believe they are close to a deal with Russians and the Pentagon wants to move ahead with testing or research that would break the ABM treaty, would the president hit the pause button. That could be the question he faces just two or three months from now.

Wolf?

BLITZER: John King in Rome, thank you very much.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: And the president winds up his European trip tomorrow in Kosovo. He'll visit Camp Bondsteel south of Pristina, the sprawling base for some 5,000 U.S. peacekeepers. He's expected to get a briefing from commanders and address the troops.

Mr. Bush took office amid pledges to withdraw U.S. troops from the Balkans. Worried allies have since been assured the U.S. will work with them in the region.

While the president is abroad, he has been able to make good on one of his campaign promises, a tax cut. The down payment comes in the form of rebate checks. Some of you received the first checks in today's mail. The idea is that you'll spend them and speed the economy back to health. But CNN's Brooks Jackson has some other ideas.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROOKS JACKSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Blow it on shopping? That's what they want you to do with your tax check. But financial advisers say there's a better choice.

RIC EDELMAN, FINANCIAL ADVISER: If you do go to the mall and you blow it on whatever it is you happen to want to buy, you'll be just as poor next month as you are now. But right now, you're $300 richer, maybe $600 richer, and you want to preserve that wealth for your financial future.

JACKSON: Just banking $600 at 3 percent interest, it becomes $618 after one year and nearly 700 bucks on five years with monthly compounding. Or even better, pay off $600 of credit card debt. And at a typical 18.5 percent rate, you'll save $121 in compounded interest payments in just the first 12 months alone.

(on camera): Or you could use the $600 to make an extra mortgage payment. We asked the Mortgage Bankers Association to figure how much you'd save.

(voice-over): Combine that tax check with some pocket change to make an extra $619 payment now, and you'll cut a full five months of payments off the end of a typical 30-year mortgage, saving a total of more than $4,300 in interest payments on a $150,000, 7 percent loan.

(on camera): And you can expect even bigger returns if you put the money into an Individual Retirement Account or college account, where the money can grow tax-free.

(voice-over): Open a college fund with that $600, then kick in the price of a pizza every month -- 10 bucks -- and in 15 years, by the time that 3-year-old is ready for college, you could have more than 6 grand if the stock market goes up at its historical average of 9 percent a year. Or for really big gains, make that $600 the first of an annual investment program for retirement.

BOB CORCORAN, FIDELITY INVESTMENTS: If you were to invest $600 a year and you were able to invest another $600 every year in your IRA, after 30 years, assuming you get a 9 percent return, you'd have $89,000, almost $90,000, in your IRA, waiting for you at your retirement, and that's a lot of money.

JACKSON (on camera): So you can do what they want you to do, spend a little money now. Or you can be a rebel, a subversive -- save it and spend a lot of money later.

Brooks Jackson, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: And turning now to the Chandra Levy case -- police have conducted yet another sweep through a Washington park, and there is interest in having yet another conversation with Congressman Gary Condit. Let's go live to CNN national correspondent Bob Franken.

Bob, bring us up to date.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, of course, Wolf, there is always a dance when we get to the point that the police want to interview Congressman Gary Condit. We are told, of course, that Condit would be under no obligation whatsoever to do the interview. The police say they could not force him to do so. This is not a criminal investigation. But we are always told by Condit's people something like we've been told by his spokesman, Marina Ein -- and I'm quoting -- "As we've said before, if the police or the FBI have new matters that they want to discuss or additional areas to explore, Congressman Condit is prepared to cooperate in providing that information."

Now, when we got that statement, I asked Ms. Ein whether, in fact, that meant that it would be up to the police or for Congressman Condit to decide if it met that standard. And she said it would be something that both parties would decide, leaving, of course, possibility that the congressman or his lawyer, Abbe Lowell, would decide not to do interview. Of course, few people believe there's little chance -- few people believe there's much chance of that because of the public relations problem that would cause.

Now, the police say that Congressman Condit continues, Wolf, to not be a suspect.

BLITZER: And Bob, do we have any idea what questions, what kind of questions, the police and the FBI, presumably U.S. attorney's office, here in District of Columbia would like to ask Congressman Condit during that fourth interview?

FRANKEN: Well, we are told by sources that the one thing they'd want to talk about would be some gaps in the timeline that the congressman has provided about where he was on May 1st, which was last time that Chandra Levy was heard from, using her computer.

Also, the police make it very clear they want to talk to Congressman Condit about that period of time, about four hours before his apartment was searched on July 10th, when the congressman ended up in Alexandria, Virginia, in a car with an aide, as a matter of fact, running a bunch of errands, we're now told by police sources, and also dumping some garbage which included, as we found out later, a watch case, a watch case that was a gift -- contained a watch which was a gift from a former aide of his, somebody with -- who now claims -- she lives in San Francisco -- that she, too, was having a relationship with Congressman Condit.

BLITZER: OK, Bob Franken in Washington, thanks once again. And we hope to hear from Levy family friend and attorney Don Vance shortly, but this breaking story from Virginia to New England this afternoon, a lot of people were saying, "Look, up in the sky." It wasn't a bird or a plane. So let's find out what it was.

CNN military affairs correspondent Jamie McIntyre is on the phone with the latest guess on what those flashing lights were.

Jamie, tell us first of all, what did you see?

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, here's the bulletin. I can't tell you what it was, but I can tell you what I saw. I was sitting in my Pentagon office around 6 o'clock this evening, talking to a Navy officer. And I saw out my window what looked like a meteorite on a downward trajectory, heading toward the Earth. It was a bright orange trace in sky that got brighter and brighter as it seemed to get closer to the ground. And then, about halfway up in the sky, it just sort of evaporated into a bright flash.

So we checked with the U.S. Space Command out at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado -- that's where they track all of the man-made objects in space -- to see if any piece of space junk or something had reentered the earths's atmosphere. And according to the spokesperson out there, they checked with the command center, they had no record of anything reentering the atmosphere.

However, they did make the point that they only track man-made objects. It's absolutely possible this could have be a meteorite or some other natural object from space. But again, lots of people reported seeing it up and down the East Coast. Normally, when I hear these kinds of reports, I'm a little skeptical, but I saw it myself, so I can tell you it happened.

BLITZER: All right, Jamie, stand by. I want to bring in our Washington bureau chief, Frank Sesno. He's in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania.

Frank, tell us what you saw.

FRANK SESNO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I didn't see anything, Wolf. But I was driving through, and we heard a tremendous -- what sounded like a sonic boom and rolled down the window because I anticipated hearing sirens or something to that effect, if it were explosion or something that were causing a local sensation. And there was nothing. However, shortly after that, when I arrived -- we arrived at a local hotel here, it was the talk of the town. It swept through the restaurant where we were eating. People were talking about having seen a -- a "ball of flame" was how one person described it.

So I called the state police here. I also called local police. And they reported the same thing, that their phone banks had lit up, both the 911 emergency numbers and the non-emergency numbers, receiving a ton of phone calls. And they claim that they were getting calls and hearing from northern Maryland and New Jersey, all the way to upstate New York, reports from people, who had heard the sonic boom and seen something very much like Jamie described in the air.

No reports -- no reports, the police tell me, of any sighted landings, though there's a lot of local scuttlebutt that it was anywhere from the next county north of here all the way to Muncie, Pennsylvania. But again, no confirmation that it actually landed. That's just what everybody's talking about. It is literally talk of the town.

BLITZER: Well, let me bring Jamie McIntyre back in. Jamie is northern Virginia, just outside of Washington, D.C.

First of all, Jamie, you -- you are an eyewitness to something that you saw. Had you ever seen anything remotely like this before?

MCINTYRE: No. And -- absolutely not. And absolutely not in the daytime, either. What was one of the remarkable things about this was this was the bright -- it was a bright, sunny day in Washington. And I was looking out my Pentagon window, which looks to the west. I can see clearly in the distance the National Cathedral and the planes coming in on the flight path to National Airport.

And this downward arc of this flaming object was very bright against the bright blue sky. And then, as I said, it got brighter as it was coming down, and then it appeared to sort of evaporate in a -- just a burst of -- of flame.

Now, there was a plane coming in, landing at National Airport, at Reagan National Airport, at this time. I'm sure the pilot would have seen it. And there might have been a little bit of an optical illusion involved, in that it looked like it was very close. It looked like if I would have told you it was over Washington or over the Potomac. But clearly, that was the impression that people had who saw it up and down the East Coast, that it was very close to them. And that might indicate that it was really pretty high up in the upper atmosphere, and just appeared to be close if you were looking off in distance.

BLITZER: And Frank, you say didn't you see anything, but you heard a loud sound. Give us the sense of how loud that sound actually was.

SESNO: It was very loud. It came right through the car windows. The air-conditioner was on. It over -- you know, it went right over all of that. And it sounded like a -- it sounded like a sonic boom. If you've heard a sonic boom, it -- that's exactly what it sounded like, or a thud. Now, I didn't feel anything. And nobody I talked to felt anything. But many people describe very, very much what Jamie has described, and that sense, literally, Wolf, that it landed just next door.

There were -- I was walking around, talking to people here, who were suggesting that it was one county north of where I am, or two counties north. And then, as I say, I spoke to the police and they're talking about other reports that it had landed in upper New York state. And again, to be really clear, because we don't want an Orson Welles moment here, there are no reports that anything landed anywhere that we've heard. Local news here, Wolf, was talking with their meteorologist, who talked to astronomers, who said if it was a meteor shower or something like that, this thing probably burned up in the atmosphere, went over horizon and didn't land anywhere.

MCINTYRE: And Wolf, I should just point out that this whole thing took place in just a very short time. The part that I saw, and I was only looking out a window, so I might not have seen whole thing, only lasted perhaps a second or second and half. Now, some of the reports that came in to the U.S. Space Command at the Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado said that they -- some people saw this for what they thought was 4 to 5 seconds. So they might have seen it earlier in the trajectory.

And this is the kind of thing you just had to happen to be looking in that part of the sky to see it because there was somebody in my office, and I said, "Wow! Look at that! What's that?" And by the time he turned around, it was gone. (INAUDIBLE)

BLITZER: All right, Jamie McIntyre in northern Virginia, Frank Sesno in Pennsylvania, thanks for joining us.

Just to recap, a flash was seen up and down the Eastern seaboard late this afternoon at some point. We're trying to find out precisely what it was. CNN, of course, will continue to monitor this story, and we'll have the latest as soon as we -- it becomes available.

Meanwhile, we're following another developing story tonight near Los Angeles. Firefighters are battling blaze at the University of California at Irvine. Reports say -- and we're seeing live pictures right now. Reports say there was an explosion at the Physical Science Center. Flames can be seen through at least one window. Authorities don't know if anyone has been hurt. The building has been evacuated.

Asked today about the possibility of another police interview with Gary Condit, Chandra Levy's parents urged the congressman to quote, "just tell the truth."

Joining me now -- actually, joining me shortly, we're hoping to have the close family friend and attorney for the Levy family, Don Vance. But in the meantime, we want to go take a commercial break.

When we come back: She had become a powerful woman, Katherine Graham. They paid tribute to her in Washington. We'll have more on that when we come back. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back.

In other news today, lawmakers in Indonesia impeached the country's president and swore in his deputy, the daughter of a former leader, to replace him. Ousted leader Abdurrahman Wahid has said he would ignore calls to step aside and refused to leave the presidential palace. The United States endorses the election of Megawati Sukarnoputri and urges the nation to maintain peace and end corruption.

Today Patrick Ewing became the first pro athlete to testify at the Gold Club trial in Atlanta. He acknowledged receiving oral sex from club dancers on two separate occasions. Prosecutors say the club's owner, Steve Kaplan, paid his dancers to have sex with celebrity customers. Kaplan is also charged with having ties to organized crime. No athletes are charged with criminal wrongdoing.

Today in Washington, a tribute to a humble lady who helped shape the nation's modern political landscape. Katharine Graham, the publisher of "The Washington Post," who died last week, was remembered in a ceremony befitting a head of state. Some of the most powerful figures in politics, business and journalism, many of them adversaries, willingly sat next to each other inside Washington's National Cathedral.

They heard the story of a shy, retreating person who was the only woman on "The Washington Post's" board when she inherited the newspaper in 1963. She went on to make the crucial and now historic decision to publish the Pentagon Papers, a classified history of the Vietnam war. And she saw "The Post" through its ground-breaking reporting on the Watergate scandal, which brought down the presidency of Richard Nixon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HENRY KISSINGER, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: "The Washington Post" had been a relentless critic of many aspects of the administrations in which I served. This seeming paradox was overwhelmed by the admiration and affection I came to feel for Kay as a person.

BENJAMIN C. BRADLEE, FORMER "POST" EXECUTIVE EDITOR: Maybe not all you understand exactly what it takes to make a great newspaper. It takes a great owner. Period.

ARTHUR SCHLESINGER JR., HISTORIAN: Even more important was Kay Graham's next battle against the imperial presidency, the battle of Watergate. "The Post's" hard-hitting reporters, aided by the still mysterious "Deep Throat," who may very well be among us this morning.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Katharine Graham was 84 years old.

Tonight on "The Leading Edge": Scientists have just announced they've finished the initial test of the first experimental vaccine for Alzheimer's disease. CNN medical correspondent Rhonda Rowland has details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) RHONDA ROWLAND, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's a critical step in the testing of any experimental treatment, the "phase one" or safety study. In the case of an Alzheimer's vaccine that's been met with considerable enthusiasm, called AN-1792, researchers say it passed. So far, in 100 people with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease, the vaccine appears safe.

DR. IVAN LIEBERBURG, ELAN CORPORATION: But more importantly, as well, we saw that in a significant proportion of the patients, they were able to demonstrate an immune response. Their antibody levels went up. And that indicates that this was having an effect in these patients.

ROWLAND: It's too early to say if the patients' memory improved or if mental decline has slowed, though the immune response in humans was similar to that seen in earlier studies in mice. In those mice experiments, the vaccine halted and in some cases reversed the disease. It was also effective in preventing young mice from ever getting Alzheimer's. Most scientists think the build-up of beta amyloid plaques in the brain causes Alzheimer's. The vaccine works by stimulating the immune system to clear out those plaques.

(on camera): The development of the experimental Alzheimer's vaccine is moving along quickly. It's been just two years since promising results were first seen in mice. The next phase of studies will include almost 400 Alzheimer's patients in the United States and Europe.

Rhonda Rowland, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back. Time now to open our mailbag. Many of you reacted to our discussion on the theory advanced by John Walsh of "America's Most Wanted" that a serial killer may be on the loose in Washington.

Sandy in Lexington, Kentucky, says he spent 27 years as a police investigator. "In my soul, I feel and agree with John Walsh that Chandra has become the victim of a serial killer."

But Jennifer from Atlanta is skeptical. "I feel that three murders is a big leap to assume a serial killer."

And Terry in Santa Rosa, California, writes this. "I would like to know more about whether having affairs with interns is a common situation, similar to the proverbial `sleeping your way to the top' in Hollywood."

Remember, I want to hear from you. Please e-mail me at wolf@cnn.com or go to our Web site, where you can also read my daily on-line column, cnn.com/wolf.

That's all the time we have tonight. We had hoped to bring you our interview with a friend and attorney of the Chandra Levy family, Don Vance. We'll try to bring you that interview tomorrow night.

For now, thanks very much for watching. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington.

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