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American Morning

Martha Stewart Case; Super Tuesday Tomorrow

Aired March 01, 2004 - 08:30   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.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Nice day here in New York. Already 50 degrees on the 1st of March.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Pretty nice.

HEMMER: Is the long thaw behind us, do you think?

O'BRIEN: No, I don't think so.

HEMMER: That's too optimistic, isn't it?

O'BRIEN: Yes, it is.

HEMMER: All right, coming up next 30 minutes here, last chance for lawyers in the Martha Stewart matter to convince the jury. Closing arguments begin today in a case that was thrown in a whole new direction on Friday afternoon.

Get a report on what's happening in that case in a moment.

O'BRIEN: Also this morning, our man on the inside for those all- night Oscar parties, B.j. Sigesmund. He's the guy who stayed up late. He's going to dish for us this morning on what the stars were up to after the Oscar ceremony.

HEMMER: Do you think he slept at all?

O'BRIEN: No, actually apparently, I think he's in his tuxedo and he's just going to be literally has just come in from the party.

You go, B.J.

HEMMER: Our top stories now at the half hour. The U.N. Security council unanimously approving the deployment of a multinational force to Haiti. About 250 Marines arriving in Port-au-Prince yesterday. According to Pentagon sources, another 200 expected today. Meanwhile, dozens of French troops, about 50 in fact, arrived in Port-au-Prince in the last hour. More on the situation in Haiti coming up this morning as well.

Iraqi officials have agreed on a basic draft constitution. The council missed its Saturday deadline, but officials say the delay will not affect the power handover set for the end of June. The document expected to be signed on Wednesday after the end of a Shiite feast. The mayor of a small New York college town says a wedding waiting list is growing for same-sex couples. New Paltz's (ph) mayor, Jason West, announced last week he'd start giving out marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples, and has been bombarded, we are told, with requests ever since. The New York Health Department say same-sex marriages are illegal. More ceremonies are said to be planned for this coming weekend.

New bumper crash tests conducted by the insurance industry found even minor accidents can be costly. Each of the models averaged more than $500 in damage, after crashing just 5 miles an hour. But the 2004 Chevy Malibu and 2004 the Acura TSX earned the group's lowest rating, averaging more than $950 in repairs. The 2004 Mitsubishi Galant fared best, averaging about $525 for repair.

O'BRIEN: $950 after being hit at 5 miles an hour?

HEMMER: Imagine that.

O'BRIEN: Wow. That's steep.

Let's turn and talk about Martha Stewart, closing arguments are expected to begin shortly in her trial, with her fate hanging in the balance. A major decision on Friday brought a major shift in the case as well. Deborah Feyerick is live with for us this morning with more at the courthouse in lower Manhattan, where you have been for quite a while now, Deborah.

Good morning to you.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

Well, closing arguments are critical. They will help the jury cut to the heart of some 100 hours worth of witness testimony and exhibits, because the judge threw out the securities fraud charge on Thursday, the jury will not have to consider any evidence that was introduced that is relevant to that. Still, they are going to have an awful lot on their plates.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(voice-over): The question facing the jury, did Martha Stewart lie? Did she make up a story with her broker, Peter Bacanovic, to cover up the sale of a biotech stock one day before the stock tanked?

The jury will consider testimony from the government's star witness, the broker's assistant who says he tipped Stewart about ImClone, and then sold her 4,000 shares because his boss, Stewart's co-defendant, told him to do it.

Defense lawyers say the young assistant was making assumptions when he really had no idea what arrangements Stewart had with her broker. There's also Stewart's best friend, her recollection shaky, who testified Stewart sold ImClone after hearing the company's CEO, a long-time pal, was selling.

Some of the evidence the jury will consider, the message the broker left with Stewart's secretary, the one about ImClone that Stewart changed, then changed back. And the broker's worksheet. Battling ink experts battled about the notation 60 next to ImClone. Defense lawyers say it proves Stewart and her brokers had a plan in place to sell ImClone if it fell to below $60. Prosecutors say the plan, like the notation, was created after the trade. And what about the impact of Bacanovic's own words? The taped conversation with federal investigators in which he forgets about setting a $60 floor price with Stewart's business manager, Heidi Dalucha (ph).

QUESTION: So the issue of stock at $60 didn't coming up with Heidi?

PETER BACANOVIC: No.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FEYERICK: So prosecutors will begin closing arguments. Bacanovic's lawyers have this afternoon to present their arguments. Stewart goes tomorrow. Prosecutors will have the last word. And after being charged, the jury will begin deliberating Wednesday -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Deborah Feyerick for us this morning. Deborah, thanks -- Bill.

HEMMER: To politics now. Super Tuesday is tomorrow, and those contests are the next best chance, and maybe the last best chance, for Senator John Edwards to try to catch front-runner John Kerry. Senator Edwards has been getting help from his wife Elizabeth and his daughter, Cate, a senior at Princeton University. I talked with both of them yesterday while they were here for a short stop in New York City.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HEMMER: If Super Tuesday doesn't go the way you hope, would you advise him to go out?

ELIZABETH EDWARDS, WIFE OF JOHN EDWARDS: I'm not going to concede that that's possible. We are -- we always describe ourselves as optimists. We are optimists. I think if I paid attention to things like that where polls said we were going to be, we would have pulled out of Wisconsin before that vote. But he came into the state almost 40 points behind the day before the election. A poll came out and he was 27 points behind. And on Election Day, he pulled within six. And everybody thinks, what would have happened the next day or the next week? that's what I'm expecting to see, exactly the same kind of growth. I was optimistic then; I'm optimistic now.

HEMMER: What do you think your best chance is Tuesday? What states?

EDWARDS: I don't know. He has a message that you would expect to resonate in Ohio, where they've lost so many jobs, and John talks a great deal about jobs very persuasively and from the heart, passionately, because it's the story of his own hometown, of the mill where his dad worked has closed. I expect him to do well in Minnesota for a lot of the same reasons, and upstate New York.

HEMMER: You are a college senior, age 21?

CATE EDWARDS, DAUGHTER OF JOHN EDWARDS: Yes, I'll be 22 next week.

HEMMER: Well, happy birthday.

C. EDWARDS: Actually, I had a couple of people say they'd vote for dad, just as a birthday present.

HEMMER: At the age of 21, what do you think your father would do for your generation, if he were president?

C. EDWARDS: I think he gives our generation hope and optimism. Like my mom just said, that we really need. And he has sort of the charisma to engage us, and I think that he is one of those people who, as a leader, would really sort of move us forward as a country, but also excite our generation.

If things don't go your way on Tuesday.

E. EDWARDS: This is another hypothetical I'm not going to like, right?

HEMMER: Well, you might. It depends on how you want to look at it. Would you like to see your husband as vice president?

E. EDWARDS: That's not even in -- we don't get a lot of time to talk to one other. That's not even a conversation we've had. This is not something we've even talked about. John has a single focus. He is one of the most focused human beings that I've ever known. He has a single focus, and that is winning this nomination.

HEMMER: Could you see a political union between these two families?

E. EDWARDS: Does Senator Kerry want the vice presidency, is that the question? No, I mean, I think that a lot of their proposals are the same. There are some important differences, important for the American people. I think Senator Kerry will work for Senator Edwards if he's the nominee; Senator Edwards would work with Senator Kerry if he were the nominee.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HEMMER: Elizabeth and Cate Edwards yesterday here in New York City.

To the front-runner's family now, Vanessa Kerry, Senator Kerry's younger daughter, a Harvard medical student. She is on the campaign trail yet again today, live in Baltimore.

Nice to have you. Good morning.

VANESSA KERRY, CAMPAIGNING FOR HER FATHER, JOHN KERRY: Good morning. HEMMER: Same question to you I asked Cate Edwards. You're age 27. What would your father do for your generation if he were in the White House?

KERRY: I think my father is going to do a lot of things for my father if he gets the White House. He's focus on creating jobs for all Americans, investing in energy independence, which is our security, its jobs, it's the environment rolled into one, and it could create 500,000 new jobs. He's work on closing loopholes, so we're not losing jobs overseas. A lot of us want to know when we graduate college or graduate school, or whatever we're doing, there are going to be jobs waiting for us, and I think he's going to make our world safer. A lot of young people, as I've been traveling this country, have been talking about concerns about our foreign policy, and our ability to make relationships abroad and have friendships and alliances. Those are all things that I think my father is going to work toward and do very well at.

HEMMER: Yes, I mentioned you're at Harvard. There's a political scientist in Boston who studied your father. He had this to say about his personality, and perhaps how he would govern do. "He certainly does have a manner of the patrician who has come to talk to the commoner, and I think for some people, it's off-putting. He doesn't feel your pain, but he's thinking about it."

KERRY: You know, I find it interesting, because I find my father is somebody who's actually very empathetic and somebody who I feel really does understand the spectrum of people's concerns, whether it is pain, whether it is joy, whether it is happiness. But he understands what America is facing. He knows firsthand, I think, the issues this country is facing. And I've been incredibly grateful for my dad for being as close as he is to me, for being able to be as accessible as he is to me, and I think that the American people are discovering that.

HEMMER: Tomorrow is the big day. Ten states vote, you got one caucus, the other are primaries. How do you like your chances?

KERRY: Well, I am, as I always say, I'm cautiously optimistic. I am superstitious, and I feel very good about tomorrow, but I am anticipating, and hoping, and we are fighting for every vote in every state. I think, you know, my father has been running in a national campaign. I'm incredibly proud of him. He's been working really hard. I saw him for the first time last night in over a month, and we sort of realized just how crazy this last month has been, because he has been in every state. Our whole family has been traveling this country, and I'm asking the American people for their support and for their help, because we need to send a very strong message to George Bush, that we are not going to re-elect him in 2004.

HEMMER: We'll see what happens tomorrow.

Vanessa Kerry, thanks for your time there in Baltimore. Super Tuesday goes down tomorrow. We'll be talking about it. Appreciate your time. O'BRIEN: Must be hard to juggle her medical school classes. I mean, obviously, the load of stuff that she's taking at Harvard Medical School can't be easy to be on the campaign trail this whole time. I wonder how she's pulling that off.

(WEATHER UPDATE)

O'BRIEN: Still to come on AMERICAN MORNING, as rebels in Haiti march closer to the capital city, what obstacles do the U.S. Marines face now in restoring order there. We're going to hear from Secretary of State Colin Powell.

HEMMER: Also, a new food prescription for your heart. The latest research might make you change your breakfast menu. We'll explain that in a moment.

O'BRIEN: And keeping the Oscar party going long after the show is over. We've got your backstage pass this morning, when AMERICAN MORNING continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEMMER: Now to medical news today. If an apple a day keeps the doctor away, what could three apples a day. A new study says fruit and cereal fiber can dramatically reduce your risk of heart disease. Interesting topic. Sanjay is off today. Medical correspondent Holly Firfer with us for more from the CNN Center on this story.

Good morning, Holly.

HOLLY FIRFER, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill.

Yes, we've heard that dietary fiber, eat your fiber, it helps you do so many things. It's good for your body. It helps reduce the risk of some cancers. It helps reduce the risk of diabetes by 20 percent, heart disease by 40 percent. It can help you lose weight. Help you prevent impotency and even constipation.

But now they are saying that we know it's about heart disease, but what is it? What kind of fiber does it? So in the archives of internal medicine, they pinpointed exactly what kind of fiber it is. It's fruit and cereal fiber. They looked at 91,000 men, 245,000 women and a whole bunch of different studies, and they found that for each 10 grams of fiber that you eat per day, you decrease your risk of heart attack by 14 percent. You lower your risk of dying from heart disease by 27 percent.

Now more specifically, if you ate cereal fiber, you reduced your risk from dying from heart disease by 25 percent and 30 percent from eating these fruit fibers.

Now what is 10 grams, you might ask? Ten grams is just about a cup of raspberries, a cup of chick peas, something like that, not too bad. And they say that what it does, researchers say it lowers your blood cholesterol, it helps improve your insulin sensitivity. It also can lower your blood pressure. So basically, these fruits and these cereals are good.

So why not vegetables, you might ask? Well, researchers say, you know, we eat mostly starchy vegetables when you ask people what kind of veggies eat? It's potatoes, it's peas, it's corns, things that, basically, you cook a lot, so you cook out those nutrients and cook down that fiber, and actually they know that some of these starchy vegetables can actually increase your risk of heart disease and type II diabetes by raising your blood sugar levels. So it's the cereal fiber and the fruit fiber that's really good for you.

HEMMER: How much fiber is recommended, Holly?

FIRFER: Well, for women, they say about 25 grams. For men, they say about 38 grams. It sound like a lot, but not a whole lot. I mean, you can improve your fiber intake in small little ways. One orange is going to give you 3 grams more fiber than even the pulpiest juice. And if you don't feel like past, instead of eating plain pasta, eat spinach pasta or semolina pasta. That's going to add another 5 grams of fiber to your daily intake. So it's very easy to do, sounds like a lot, though.

HEMMER: Well, if you do it, we'll stay healthy, though, right, hopefully.

FIRFER: Yes.

HEMMER: Hopefully.

Holly Firfer at the CNN Center -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Let's about the Oscars, shall we? If history is any guide, Hollywood's biggest night is ending, oh, yes, just about now.

Joining us this morning from Los Angeles with the lowdown on Oscar's after party is B.J. Sigesmund. He's a staff editor of "US Weekly." He's been up all night.

Don't you look handsome. Did you literally just run in from a party?

B.J. SIGESMUND, STAFF EDITOR, "US WEEKLY": Yes, I did. They freshened me up a little bit. I have been up all night. And if only l.a. traffic were as easy to get around normally as it is at 5:00 a.m.

O'BRIEN: S tell me, you went to the "Vanity Fair" party, I heard, probably some others as well. How were the parties? Let's start with the after before we get to the event itself?

SIGESMUND: Yes, the "Vanity Fair" after party, as you know, is the party, and it was amazing. I mean, you walk around in there and you see Meg Ryan talking to Steven Tyler, and you know, and her back is turned. She's right up against Dylan McDermott, and then there's, like, Uma Thurman at the bar ordering a glass of wine, and Lucy Liu getting a cheeseburger. Even Donald Trump, who I talked to for a minute at the party, said he was really into the people watching, like, even Donald Trump is into people watching. Yes, this is really the party, and it was quite an experience, Soledad.

O'BRIEN: What were people saying? I mean, obviously "Lord of the Rings" was the big winner of the night. Was that a topic of conversation, or by the time you get to the parties, were people sort of moving on to other...

SIGESMUND: You know what, like, who didn't know all these winners weeks ago, months ago? I mean, there was not one upset in the whole bunch. It went exactly as predicted. It was so boring, wasn't it? I mean, I wanted one upset. I wanted Chiriac Daschlue (ph) to win for best supporting actress, or maybe Johnny Depp for best actor, but it was all just so by the books.

O'BRIEN: Now, I don't feel bad that some of my picks were wrong, B.J., thanks.

SIGESMUND: You know what I mean, it wasn't a huge topic. If there had been an upset, people would be talking about that.

O'BRIEN: Were people talking about Mel Gibson's movie "The Passion?" I mean, you imagine all those people who are getting together, you know, movie industry folks. Was that a topic of conversation?

SIGESMUND: Yes, I've been in L.A. a lot of this week for the Oscars, and people have been talking about "The Passion" everywhere I've gone. You know, this is show business, and they call it that, because it is about a business, and it is a business. And now that this thing has made $117 million, everyone is wondering, what exactly did Mel Gibson do right? Remember a few months back when we talked about this could be a huge bomb, this could the end of Mel Gibson's career. Well, now they are wondering, how can we capture this, how can have another five-day weekend that is like $7 million short of the best five-day weekend of all time?

O'BRIEN: Can't be the first time that Hollywood insiders have sort of made predictions that didn't come true. Before I let you go, I want to ask you, though, a quick question about the fashion. Does everybody change before they go to the after party, or do they pretty much wear the same outfit?

SIGESMUND: No, they change. They go somewhere, and they have a whole new look for the after party. But I thought the fashion was, you know, really daring at the after party. You'll see in the papers today and tomorrow, a lot of the photography will show that. You know, Paris Hilton, she was at the "Vanity Fair" party. She looked kind of amazing. Charlize Theron, of course, looked dazzling. Nicole Kidman, I thought she was great. You know, it took 400 hours to make Nicole Kidman's dress. Sophia Coppola...

O'BRIEN: And another 200 to squeeze her into it. That dress was pretty darn tight, B.J.

SIGESMUND: Yes, and then Uma Thurman. She's the divisive one of the night. People are -- oh, I'm sorry, that's Charlize Theron. There's Uma Thurman there. That's the one that just didn't work for a lot of L.A., and I bet a lot of New York, too.

O'BRIEN: Well, she's a beautiful girl, she can pull off anything, right?

SIGESMUND: Yes.

O'BRIEN: Nicole Kidman as well.

Nice to see you, B.J. Do you have time to get in the car and go back to the parties? I'm sure they are still going.

SIGESMUND: Well, it's 5:51 here. I think even L.A. goes to bed.

O'BRIEN: Back to work. Back to work. B.J., thanks, as always, for joining us this morning. A little insight. Appreciate it.

SIGESMUND: Thank you, Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, company fires a quarter of its workers adds insult to injury with the way the pink slips are handed out. We'll explain as AMERICAN MORNING continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Credit card company fires one-fourth of its workforce. Wait until you hear how they gave them the news. They're all heart.

And the plan that lowers the sky-high cost of calling people on your phone on an airplane. Why anybody would do that is beyond me, but people do it. It's expensive. Andy Serwer is here "Minding Your Business."

Good morning.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Good morning.

You're getting cheaper, though.

Let's talk about the markets first, give you a little update. Where are we two months into the year? How did we do in February? OK, not that bad; unless you're a NASDAQ investor, you didn't do that well. You can see the Dow and the S&P up nicely. What do we have for the year? For the year, the Dow is up 1 percent, and the S&P is up about 3 percent. Again, it doesn't sound so great, but, you know, look, multiply that by 12, and you've got yourself a pretty good year.

CAFFERTY: What about the money market fund, like .8 or something.

SERWER: Yes, right, so that's pretty good stuff.

Anyway, let's talk about this story. Let's start with the in- flight phones. That's a mouthful. Air Phone, as Jack said, it's very expensive. You try to use those things, and I never can get them to work. First of all, you slide your card in for about 25 minutes, and you give up and order a drink. But if you manage to get through, it's going to cost you like $50, $75. I've spent $150 on calls. Now Verizon, which owns Air Phone, has a new program where you can transfer your wireless service to the Air Phone right there on the plane. And you can look here, the savings are phenomenal. The top line is what it costs you now, $4 a minute. But if you transfer your existing Verizon phone, the 38 million people have Verizon phones, it's only 10 cents a minute, with the $10 monthly thing. But if you don't sign up for the $10 monthly thing, still 69 cents a minute, so it's cheaper. And eventually, Jack, we're all going to be able to do everything wireless on the plane, but it's not quite there yet.

CAFFERTY: Eventually I'll have to get one those wireless devices.

SERWER: You're going to have a wireless device, I like that.

CAFFERTY: Cold-hearted corporate executives. We have no corner on the market here in the USA.

SERWER: Yes, I know, South Koreans may be taking some lessons from some our guys here. KEB, that's the third largest credit card company in South Korea, decided that they were going to lay off some employees. There are the employees demonstrating. They always have those headbands. I'm not sure what they mean.

They are protesting. So they decided to have some layoffs. Guess what, they sent the layoffs by text messaging. There it is. Let me translate that for you. I can read that South Korean, I'm pretty good. Layoff date is February 28th. That's what it says on that little message right there. And you know, have a heart, get a clue. Where do you start with that?

CAFFERTY: Another reason not to have those wireless devices in your possession.

SERWER: If you didn't have a wireless possession, you wouldn't be laid off. You wouldn't get laid off, you'd still be working.

CAFFERTY: I like that.

HEMMER: Redefines the pink slip.

In a moment here, with rebel leaders in Haiti, about to enter the capital city, how many U.S. Marines will be sent there? How long will they stay? Colin Powell joins us in moment. Back in a moment here, top of the hour on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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Aired March 1, 2004 - 08:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Nice day here in New York. Already 50 degrees on the 1st of March.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Pretty nice.

HEMMER: Is the long thaw behind us, do you think?

O'BRIEN: No, I don't think so.

HEMMER: That's too optimistic, isn't it?

O'BRIEN: Yes, it is.

HEMMER: All right, coming up next 30 minutes here, last chance for lawyers in the Martha Stewart matter to convince the jury. Closing arguments begin today in a case that was thrown in a whole new direction on Friday afternoon.

Get a report on what's happening in that case in a moment.

O'BRIEN: Also this morning, our man on the inside for those all- night Oscar parties, B.j. Sigesmund. He's the guy who stayed up late. He's going to dish for us this morning on what the stars were up to after the Oscar ceremony.

HEMMER: Do you think he slept at all?

O'BRIEN: No, actually apparently, I think he's in his tuxedo and he's just going to be literally has just come in from the party.

You go, B.J.

HEMMER: Our top stories now at the half hour. The U.N. Security council unanimously approving the deployment of a multinational force to Haiti. About 250 Marines arriving in Port-au-Prince yesterday. According to Pentagon sources, another 200 expected today. Meanwhile, dozens of French troops, about 50 in fact, arrived in Port-au-Prince in the last hour. More on the situation in Haiti coming up this morning as well.

Iraqi officials have agreed on a basic draft constitution. The council missed its Saturday deadline, but officials say the delay will not affect the power handover set for the end of June. The document expected to be signed on Wednesday after the end of a Shiite feast. The mayor of a small New York college town says a wedding waiting list is growing for same-sex couples. New Paltz's (ph) mayor, Jason West, announced last week he'd start giving out marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples, and has been bombarded, we are told, with requests ever since. The New York Health Department say same-sex marriages are illegal. More ceremonies are said to be planned for this coming weekend.

New bumper crash tests conducted by the insurance industry found even minor accidents can be costly. Each of the models averaged more than $500 in damage, after crashing just 5 miles an hour. But the 2004 Chevy Malibu and 2004 the Acura TSX earned the group's lowest rating, averaging more than $950 in repairs. The 2004 Mitsubishi Galant fared best, averaging about $525 for repair.

O'BRIEN: $950 after being hit at 5 miles an hour?

HEMMER: Imagine that.

O'BRIEN: Wow. That's steep.

Let's turn and talk about Martha Stewart, closing arguments are expected to begin shortly in her trial, with her fate hanging in the balance. A major decision on Friday brought a major shift in the case as well. Deborah Feyerick is live with for us this morning with more at the courthouse in lower Manhattan, where you have been for quite a while now, Deborah.

Good morning to you.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

Well, closing arguments are critical. They will help the jury cut to the heart of some 100 hours worth of witness testimony and exhibits, because the judge threw out the securities fraud charge on Thursday, the jury will not have to consider any evidence that was introduced that is relevant to that. Still, they are going to have an awful lot on their plates.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(voice-over): The question facing the jury, did Martha Stewart lie? Did she make up a story with her broker, Peter Bacanovic, to cover up the sale of a biotech stock one day before the stock tanked?

The jury will consider testimony from the government's star witness, the broker's assistant who says he tipped Stewart about ImClone, and then sold her 4,000 shares because his boss, Stewart's co-defendant, told him to do it.

Defense lawyers say the young assistant was making assumptions when he really had no idea what arrangements Stewart had with her broker. There's also Stewart's best friend, her recollection shaky, who testified Stewart sold ImClone after hearing the company's CEO, a long-time pal, was selling.

Some of the evidence the jury will consider, the message the broker left with Stewart's secretary, the one about ImClone that Stewart changed, then changed back. And the broker's worksheet. Battling ink experts battled about the notation 60 next to ImClone. Defense lawyers say it proves Stewart and her brokers had a plan in place to sell ImClone if it fell to below $60. Prosecutors say the plan, like the notation, was created after the trade. And what about the impact of Bacanovic's own words? The taped conversation with federal investigators in which he forgets about setting a $60 floor price with Stewart's business manager, Heidi Dalucha (ph).

QUESTION: So the issue of stock at $60 didn't coming up with Heidi?

PETER BACANOVIC: No.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FEYERICK: So prosecutors will begin closing arguments. Bacanovic's lawyers have this afternoon to present their arguments. Stewart goes tomorrow. Prosecutors will have the last word. And after being charged, the jury will begin deliberating Wednesday -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Deborah Feyerick for us this morning. Deborah, thanks -- Bill.

HEMMER: To politics now. Super Tuesday is tomorrow, and those contests are the next best chance, and maybe the last best chance, for Senator John Edwards to try to catch front-runner John Kerry. Senator Edwards has been getting help from his wife Elizabeth and his daughter, Cate, a senior at Princeton University. I talked with both of them yesterday while they were here for a short stop in New York City.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HEMMER: If Super Tuesday doesn't go the way you hope, would you advise him to go out?

ELIZABETH EDWARDS, WIFE OF JOHN EDWARDS: I'm not going to concede that that's possible. We are -- we always describe ourselves as optimists. We are optimists. I think if I paid attention to things like that where polls said we were going to be, we would have pulled out of Wisconsin before that vote. But he came into the state almost 40 points behind the day before the election. A poll came out and he was 27 points behind. And on Election Day, he pulled within six. And everybody thinks, what would have happened the next day or the next week? that's what I'm expecting to see, exactly the same kind of growth. I was optimistic then; I'm optimistic now.

HEMMER: What do you think your best chance is Tuesday? What states?

EDWARDS: I don't know. He has a message that you would expect to resonate in Ohio, where they've lost so many jobs, and John talks a great deal about jobs very persuasively and from the heart, passionately, because it's the story of his own hometown, of the mill where his dad worked has closed. I expect him to do well in Minnesota for a lot of the same reasons, and upstate New York.

HEMMER: You are a college senior, age 21?

CATE EDWARDS, DAUGHTER OF JOHN EDWARDS: Yes, I'll be 22 next week.

HEMMER: Well, happy birthday.

C. EDWARDS: Actually, I had a couple of people say they'd vote for dad, just as a birthday present.

HEMMER: At the age of 21, what do you think your father would do for your generation, if he were president?

C. EDWARDS: I think he gives our generation hope and optimism. Like my mom just said, that we really need. And he has sort of the charisma to engage us, and I think that he is one of those people who, as a leader, would really sort of move us forward as a country, but also excite our generation.

If things don't go your way on Tuesday.

E. EDWARDS: This is another hypothetical I'm not going to like, right?

HEMMER: Well, you might. It depends on how you want to look at it. Would you like to see your husband as vice president?

E. EDWARDS: That's not even in -- we don't get a lot of time to talk to one other. That's not even a conversation we've had. This is not something we've even talked about. John has a single focus. He is one of the most focused human beings that I've ever known. He has a single focus, and that is winning this nomination.

HEMMER: Could you see a political union between these two families?

E. EDWARDS: Does Senator Kerry want the vice presidency, is that the question? No, I mean, I think that a lot of their proposals are the same. There are some important differences, important for the American people. I think Senator Kerry will work for Senator Edwards if he's the nominee; Senator Edwards would work with Senator Kerry if he were the nominee.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HEMMER: Elizabeth and Cate Edwards yesterday here in New York City.

To the front-runner's family now, Vanessa Kerry, Senator Kerry's younger daughter, a Harvard medical student. She is on the campaign trail yet again today, live in Baltimore.

Nice to have you. Good morning.

VANESSA KERRY, CAMPAIGNING FOR HER FATHER, JOHN KERRY: Good morning. HEMMER: Same question to you I asked Cate Edwards. You're age 27. What would your father do for your generation if he were in the White House?

KERRY: I think my father is going to do a lot of things for my father if he gets the White House. He's focus on creating jobs for all Americans, investing in energy independence, which is our security, its jobs, it's the environment rolled into one, and it could create 500,000 new jobs. He's work on closing loopholes, so we're not losing jobs overseas. A lot of us want to know when we graduate college or graduate school, or whatever we're doing, there are going to be jobs waiting for us, and I think he's going to make our world safer. A lot of young people, as I've been traveling this country, have been talking about concerns about our foreign policy, and our ability to make relationships abroad and have friendships and alliances. Those are all things that I think my father is going to work toward and do very well at.

HEMMER: Yes, I mentioned you're at Harvard. There's a political scientist in Boston who studied your father. He had this to say about his personality, and perhaps how he would govern do. "He certainly does have a manner of the patrician who has come to talk to the commoner, and I think for some people, it's off-putting. He doesn't feel your pain, but he's thinking about it."

KERRY: You know, I find it interesting, because I find my father is somebody who's actually very empathetic and somebody who I feel really does understand the spectrum of people's concerns, whether it is pain, whether it is joy, whether it is happiness. But he understands what America is facing. He knows firsthand, I think, the issues this country is facing. And I've been incredibly grateful for my dad for being as close as he is to me, for being able to be as accessible as he is to me, and I think that the American people are discovering that.

HEMMER: Tomorrow is the big day. Ten states vote, you got one caucus, the other are primaries. How do you like your chances?

KERRY: Well, I am, as I always say, I'm cautiously optimistic. I am superstitious, and I feel very good about tomorrow, but I am anticipating, and hoping, and we are fighting for every vote in every state. I think, you know, my father has been running in a national campaign. I'm incredibly proud of him. He's been working really hard. I saw him for the first time last night in over a month, and we sort of realized just how crazy this last month has been, because he has been in every state. Our whole family has been traveling this country, and I'm asking the American people for their support and for their help, because we need to send a very strong message to George Bush, that we are not going to re-elect him in 2004.

HEMMER: We'll see what happens tomorrow.

Vanessa Kerry, thanks for your time there in Baltimore. Super Tuesday goes down tomorrow. We'll be talking about it. Appreciate your time. O'BRIEN: Must be hard to juggle her medical school classes. I mean, obviously, the load of stuff that she's taking at Harvard Medical School can't be easy to be on the campaign trail this whole time. I wonder how she's pulling that off.

(WEATHER UPDATE)

O'BRIEN: Still to come on AMERICAN MORNING, as rebels in Haiti march closer to the capital city, what obstacles do the U.S. Marines face now in restoring order there. We're going to hear from Secretary of State Colin Powell.

HEMMER: Also, a new food prescription for your heart. The latest research might make you change your breakfast menu. We'll explain that in a moment.

O'BRIEN: And keeping the Oscar party going long after the show is over. We've got your backstage pass this morning, when AMERICAN MORNING continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEMMER: Now to medical news today. If an apple a day keeps the doctor away, what could three apples a day. A new study says fruit and cereal fiber can dramatically reduce your risk of heart disease. Interesting topic. Sanjay is off today. Medical correspondent Holly Firfer with us for more from the CNN Center on this story.

Good morning, Holly.

HOLLY FIRFER, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill.

Yes, we've heard that dietary fiber, eat your fiber, it helps you do so many things. It's good for your body. It helps reduce the risk of some cancers. It helps reduce the risk of diabetes by 20 percent, heart disease by 40 percent. It can help you lose weight. Help you prevent impotency and even constipation.

But now they are saying that we know it's about heart disease, but what is it? What kind of fiber does it? So in the archives of internal medicine, they pinpointed exactly what kind of fiber it is. It's fruit and cereal fiber. They looked at 91,000 men, 245,000 women and a whole bunch of different studies, and they found that for each 10 grams of fiber that you eat per day, you decrease your risk of heart attack by 14 percent. You lower your risk of dying from heart disease by 27 percent.

Now more specifically, if you ate cereal fiber, you reduced your risk from dying from heart disease by 25 percent and 30 percent from eating these fruit fibers.

Now what is 10 grams, you might ask? Ten grams is just about a cup of raspberries, a cup of chick peas, something like that, not too bad. And they say that what it does, researchers say it lowers your blood cholesterol, it helps improve your insulin sensitivity. It also can lower your blood pressure. So basically, these fruits and these cereals are good.

So why not vegetables, you might ask? Well, researchers say, you know, we eat mostly starchy vegetables when you ask people what kind of veggies eat? It's potatoes, it's peas, it's corns, things that, basically, you cook a lot, so you cook out those nutrients and cook down that fiber, and actually they know that some of these starchy vegetables can actually increase your risk of heart disease and type II diabetes by raising your blood sugar levels. So it's the cereal fiber and the fruit fiber that's really good for you.

HEMMER: How much fiber is recommended, Holly?

FIRFER: Well, for women, they say about 25 grams. For men, they say about 38 grams. It sound like a lot, but not a whole lot. I mean, you can improve your fiber intake in small little ways. One orange is going to give you 3 grams more fiber than even the pulpiest juice. And if you don't feel like past, instead of eating plain pasta, eat spinach pasta or semolina pasta. That's going to add another 5 grams of fiber to your daily intake. So it's very easy to do, sounds like a lot, though.

HEMMER: Well, if you do it, we'll stay healthy, though, right, hopefully.

FIRFER: Yes.

HEMMER: Hopefully.

Holly Firfer at the CNN Center -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Let's about the Oscars, shall we? If history is any guide, Hollywood's biggest night is ending, oh, yes, just about now.

Joining us this morning from Los Angeles with the lowdown on Oscar's after party is B.J. Sigesmund. He's a staff editor of "US Weekly." He's been up all night.

Don't you look handsome. Did you literally just run in from a party?

B.J. SIGESMUND, STAFF EDITOR, "US WEEKLY": Yes, I did. They freshened me up a little bit. I have been up all night. And if only l.a. traffic were as easy to get around normally as it is at 5:00 a.m.

O'BRIEN: S tell me, you went to the "Vanity Fair" party, I heard, probably some others as well. How were the parties? Let's start with the after before we get to the event itself?

SIGESMUND: Yes, the "Vanity Fair" after party, as you know, is the party, and it was amazing. I mean, you walk around in there and you see Meg Ryan talking to Steven Tyler, and you know, and her back is turned. She's right up against Dylan McDermott, and then there's, like, Uma Thurman at the bar ordering a glass of wine, and Lucy Liu getting a cheeseburger. Even Donald Trump, who I talked to for a minute at the party, said he was really into the people watching, like, even Donald Trump is into people watching. Yes, this is really the party, and it was quite an experience, Soledad.

O'BRIEN: What were people saying? I mean, obviously "Lord of the Rings" was the big winner of the night. Was that a topic of conversation, or by the time you get to the parties, were people sort of moving on to other...

SIGESMUND: You know what, like, who didn't know all these winners weeks ago, months ago? I mean, there was not one upset in the whole bunch. It went exactly as predicted. It was so boring, wasn't it? I mean, I wanted one upset. I wanted Chiriac Daschlue (ph) to win for best supporting actress, or maybe Johnny Depp for best actor, but it was all just so by the books.

O'BRIEN: Now, I don't feel bad that some of my picks were wrong, B.J., thanks.

SIGESMUND: You know what I mean, it wasn't a huge topic. If there had been an upset, people would be talking about that.

O'BRIEN: Were people talking about Mel Gibson's movie "The Passion?" I mean, you imagine all those people who are getting together, you know, movie industry folks. Was that a topic of conversation?

SIGESMUND: Yes, I've been in L.A. a lot of this week for the Oscars, and people have been talking about "The Passion" everywhere I've gone. You know, this is show business, and they call it that, because it is about a business, and it is a business. And now that this thing has made $117 million, everyone is wondering, what exactly did Mel Gibson do right? Remember a few months back when we talked about this could be a huge bomb, this could the end of Mel Gibson's career. Well, now they are wondering, how can we capture this, how can have another five-day weekend that is like $7 million short of the best five-day weekend of all time?

O'BRIEN: Can't be the first time that Hollywood insiders have sort of made predictions that didn't come true. Before I let you go, I want to ask you, though, a quick question about the fashion. Does everybody change before they go to the after party, or do they pretty much wear the same outfit?

SIGESMUND: No, they change. They go somewhere, and they have a whole new look for the after party. But I thought the fashion was, you know, really daring at the after party. You'll see in the papers today and tomorrow, a lot of the photography will show that. You know, Paris Hilton, she was at the "Vanity Fair" party. She looked kind of amazing. Charlize Theron, of course, looked dazzling. Nicole Kidman, I thought she was great. You know, it took 400 hours to make Nicole Kidman's dress. Sophia Coppola...

O'BRIEN: And another 200 to squeeze her into it. That dress was pretty darn tight, B.J.

SIGESMUND: Yes, and then Uma Thurman. She's the divisive one of the night. People are -- oh, I'm sorry, that's Charlize Theron. There's Uma Thurman there. That's the one that just didn't work for a lot of L.A., and I bet a lot of New York, too.

O'BRIEN: Well, she's a beautiful girl, she can pull off anything, right?

SIGESMUND: Yes.

O'BRIEN: Nicole Kidman as well.

Nice to see you, B.J. Do you have time to get in the car and go back to the parties? I'm sure they are still going.

SIGESMUND: Well, it's 5:51 here. I think even L.A. goes to bed.

O'BRIEN: Back to work. Back to work. B.J., thanks, as always, for joining us this morning. A little insight. Appreciate it.

SIGESMUND: Thank you, Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, company fires a quarter of its workers adds insult to injury with the way the pink slips are handed out. We'll explain as AMERICAN MORNING continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Credit card company fires one-fourth of its workforce. Wait until you hear how they gave them the news. They're all heart.

And the plan that lowers the sky-high cost of calling people on your phone on an airplane. Why anybody would do that is beyond me, but people do it. It's expensive. Andy Serwer is here "Minding Your Business."

Good morning.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Good morning.

You're getting cheaper, though.

Let's talk about the markets first, give you a little update. Where are we two months into the year? How did we do in February? OK, not that bad; unless you're a NASDAQ investor, you didn't do that well. You can see the Dow and the S&P up nicely. What do we have for the year? For the year, the Dow is up 1 percent, and the S&P is up about 3 percent. Again, it doesn't sound so great, but, you know, look, multiply that by 12, and you've got yourself a pretty good year.

CAFFERTY: What about the money market fund, like .8 or something.

SERWER: Yes, right, so that's pretty good stuff.

Anyway, let's talk about this story. Let's start with the in- flight phones. That's a mouthful. Air Phone, as Jack said, it's very expensive. You try to use those things, and I never can get them to work. First of all, you slide your card in for about 25 minutes, and you give up and order a drink. But if you manage to get through, it's going to cost you like $50, $75. I've spent $150 on calls. Now Verizon, which owns Air Phone, has a new program where you can transfer your wireless service to the Air Phone right there on the plane. And you can look here, the savings are phenomenal. The top line is what it costs you now, $4 a minute. But if you transfer your existing Verizon phone, the 38 million people have Verizon phones, it's only 10 cents a minute, with the $10 monthly thing. But if you don't sign up for the $10 monthly thing, still 69 cents a minute, so it's cheaper. And eventually, Jack, we're all going to be able to do everything wireless on the plane, but it's not quite there yet.

CAFFERTY: Eventually I'll have to get one those wireless devices.

SERWER: You're going to have a wireless device, I like that.

CAFFERTY: Cold-hearted corporate executives. We have no corner on the market here in the USA.

SERWER: Yes, I know, South Koreans may be taking some lessons from some our guys here. KEB, that's the third largest credit card company in South Korea, decided that they were going to lay off some employees. There are the employees demonstrating. They always have those headbands. I'm not sure what they mean.

They are protesting. So they decided to have some layoffs. Guess what, they sent the layoffs by text messaging. There it is. Let me translate that for you. I can read that South Korean, I'm pretty good. Layoff date is February 28th. That's what it says on that little message right there. And you know, have a heart, get a clue. Where do you start with that?

CAFFERTY: Another reason not to have those wireless devices in your possession.

SERWER: If you didn't have a wireless possession, you wouldn't be laid off. You wouldn't get laid off, you'd still be working.

CAFFERTY: I like that.

HEMMER: Redefines the pink slip.

In a moment here, with rebel leaders in Haiti, about to enter the capital city, how many U.S. Marines will be sent there? How long will they stay? Colin Powell joins us in moment. Back in a moment here, top of the hour on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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