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American Morning
Statute of Liberty Reopening Later This Morning; Live Report on North Carolina Coastline on Hurricane Alex
Aired August 03, 2004 - 08:00 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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning.
Lady Liberty reopening today, welcoming the masses yet again. While just across the harbor, guns at the ready in lower Manhattan for another day of high security.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I want people to know the truth, not the distortions that they get in national security campaigns.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: John Kerry our guest again today, continuing a swing through swing states. This morning, part two of my interview with the Democratic candidate.
Also, hurricane Alex moving closer and closer to North Carolina's Outer Banks. We are live there, as well, ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ANNOUNCER: From the CNN broadcast center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Bill Hemmer and Soledad O'Brien.
HEMMER: Good morning, everyone.
Heidi Collins with us today.
Soledad continues to take a little bit of time away. We'll keep you posted on that.
Good morning.
How are you?
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: I'm great.
How are you?
HEMMER: A lot of -- I'm fine, thanks.
A lot of angles to cover this morning on the terrorism story, including the opening of the Statue of Liberty. We're going to get to that story again this hour. Also, we'll talk to Congressman Chris Shays about the president's plan to implement a key recommendation on the commission. Will the White House plan take the teeth out of that proposal or will it add to it? We'll get to that in a second.
COLLINS: Also, police in Utah have arrested Mark Hacking now, accusing him of murdering his wife Lori. We'll get a report on the evidence in this case in just a moment.
HEMMER: Jeff Toobin stops by also, looking at the transcripts released in the Kobe Bryant case from yesterday. Some interesting comments by prosecutors. Is there a chance now they drop this case? And what did we learn from those transcripts, as well? We'll get to that.
COLLINS: Jack now and the "Cafferty File."
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Coming up in the "Cafferty File," we have a monkey and a toddler going at it in a Brooklyn supermarket. We have pictures.
And we have pictures of this, too, which I don't know, bodybuilders in Baghdad paying tribute to their hero, Arnold Schwarzenegger.
COLLINS: OK.
I haven't seen those, that's for sure.
CAFFERTY: Well, you will. That's if you stay here, too.
COLLINS: So I'll stay.
All right, Jack.
CAFFERTY: Yes, that's what we'll be doing in a little while.
COLLINS: Great.
Thanks for that.
CAFFERTY: Yes, you're most welcome.
COLLINS: All right, see you in a bit.
CAFFERTY: Yes.
COLLINS: The first in a series of congressional hearings convenes today, trying to turn recommendations from the 9/11 Commission into law. President Bush is endorsing their idea of the national intelligence director reporting to the White House, but not on the cabinet level.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't think that the office ought to be in the White House, however. I think it ought to be a stand alone group to better coordinate, particularly between foreign intelligence and domestic intelligence matters.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Connecticut Representative Christopher Shays is vice chairman of the House Government Reform Committee that meets today.
He is with us now this morning from Capitol Hill.
Congressman, hello to you and thanks for being with us.
REP. CHRISTOPHER SHAYS (R-CT), GOVERNMENT REFORM COMMITTEE: Good morning.
COLLINS: As you well know, President Bush says he does create -- he does support the creation of the national intelligence director. He doesn't want him to be cabinet level, however, and he doesn't want that person to handle the budgets of intelligence agencies.
Doesn't this just kind of muddle up the whole position?
SHAYS: Well, I would hope that over time he would want to see it both be a cabinet position and allow for budgetary authority as well as personnel authority. But, you know, this is the purpose of the hearings. We're going to have a robust debate about it and this is a healthy thing.
COLLINS: We spoke earlier with Fran Townsend, the assistant to the president for homeland security. She said if that position would have been made cabinet level, then the administration would have been accused of politicizing the position.
What does that matter?
SHAYS: Well, no, first, we don't -- never want to politicize it. We don't want this to be an operation within the White House. That has too much of the plumbers feeling of the, you know, 1972 and so on. But we definitely, I think, need to make sure that this is a position that commands respect with the other cabinet officials. And I don't see how making it a cabinet level makes it political.
COLLINS: All right, let's discuss, if we could, the recommendation from the 9/11 Commission now to strengthen the commission's oversight of intelligence. Let's talk about how difficult that is actually going to be, to reorganize Congress. You're going to have people giving up seats, appropriation power. I mean won't all of those things be very, very tough?
SHAYS: Well, they'll be very difficult, but from my standpoint, I'm not going to vote for any rule next year if I'm reelected that doesn't deal with these reforms. And I think other members need to basically say it just has to happen. I mean we're talking about national security. We're talking about grave threats to our country. And to argue about whether someone has the key position on a committee or loses some power, I think, is pretty pathetic. COLLINS: As far as the other recommendations, and there are many, nearly 40, I believe, do you have a good idea of which of those recommendations need to be legislation and which of them actually need to be direct orders?
SHAYS: Well, you know, that's what we're going to do in the hearing today. This is an overview hearing. We want to know what can be done administratively, what can be done through executive order, what can be done through regulation, what requires legislation and what is going to be a rules change in the House and the Senate when they form next year after the election.
That's one of the things we'll find out. And it's a mixture of all of the above.
COLLINS: OK, well, the hearings are taking place. But what about Congress? In recess. President Bush ever considered calling Congress back into session?
SHAYS: Well, I don't think he needs to. I mean frankly I smile at this, I mean we're all coming back. We have six full committees of Congress having hearings during August. Some of those full committees are going to subcommittee hearings. So I'll be back dealing with these issues in my own subcommittee. We're reading, all reading this report and, you know, I mean there's tremendous focus.
So I think the American people can feel pretty comfortable. Republicans and Democrats alike are digesting this, working on it in hearings and you're going to see some major action in September and October.
COLLINS: And the people will be waiting for that, I am sure.
Representative Chris Shays, thanks so much for your time this morning.
SHAYS: Thank you.
HEMMER: For the first time since the attacks of 9/11, the Statue of Liberty reopens its doors this morning to the public.
Kelly Wallace live there from Liberty Island -- Kelly, good morning.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill.
It is the last major monument in the U.S. to reopen since the September 11 attacks. And its reopening comes amid new terror warnings that al Qaeda could be planning another major attack in New York City.
Visitors will only be able to get inside the pedestal you see there behind me. The statue itself, including the observation deck at the top of the crown, will remain closed. And that has some law makers up in arms.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
WALLACE (voice-over): Lady Liberty welcoming the tired, poor and huddled masses, or at least the tired tourists, for the first time since September 11 with screening, scanning and scouring taking place outside and inside to keep visitors safe.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When we were talking around, there was plenty of policemen with their rifles and everything. And so that was kind of, it made you feel more comfortable being here, knowing that there's like so much heightened security.
WALLACE: Extra precautions are in place for the reopening in light of the weekend warnings that al Qaeda might be planning to hit financial targets in and around New York City.
LARRY PARKINSON, DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF INTERIOR: We're ramping up. We have beefed up patrols here on the island, as well as in the harbor.
WALLACE: Visitors will be able to go inside the pedestal and enjoy views of New York City from an observation deck, but the 151- foot tall statue itself, including the torch and the crown, will remain off limits due to security and safety concerns, something some New York law makers say is unacceptable.
REP. ANTHONY WEINER (D), NEW YORK: If there has ever been a symbolic victory for the terrorists, it's that we stand here in the shadow of ground zero and look at Lady Liberty and know that at least, in part, she remains closed.
WALLACE: It's not just how much has been reopened, but how much was spent to do it. A Senate committee has been investigating allegations of excessive and wasteful spending by the private foundation funding the Statue of Liberty, including $45,000 for a dog to chase geese away.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
WALLACE: A big question is why has it taken nearly three years to partially reopen the Statue of Liberty? Interior officials say the delay was due, in part, to security upgrades. But they also say it was due to new safety measures -- installing new exits and a new sprinkler system in case of a fire to keep visitors safe.
The official reopening ceremony takes place a few hours from now, at 11:00 a.m. Eastern right here on Liberty Island -- Bill.
HEMMER: And we'll be there live to see it.
Kelly, thanks for that.
Kelly Wallace -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Police in Salt Lake City have not yet found the body of Lori Hacking, but her husband, Mark Hacking, has been arrested in connection with her death. We get the latest now from Salt Lake City and Miguel Marquez.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Police believe the mystery surrounding Lori Hacking is solved.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We believe that Mark Hacking is responsible for her disappearance and death.
MARQUEZ: Police believe that she was murdered in their apartment, and they say evidence seized there, a nearby dumpster, Lori Hacking's car, and testimony from witnesses led to a single charge of aggravated murder. But the question of where Lori Hacking's body is remains a mystery.
Police have been combing a two-acre plot in the city landfill.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The thought that her last resting place is a landfill is not a pleasant thought, and the thought that she may have to stay there is something else that we don't like to think about.
MARQUEZ: Chief Dinse says even though Lori Hacking's family knew the outcome was grim, the official charging of Mark Hacking brought a new round of grief.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're devastated, both sides of that family, both Hackings and the Suarez (ph) family are visibly upset over this.
MARQUEZ: Mark Hacking's mug shot is a contrast to the Mark Hacking who pled his case publicly just days after he reported that his wife never returned from an early morning jog.
MARK HACKING, LORI HACKING'S HUSBAND: She never made it in this morning. And I panicked. I called the police and I raced over here and found her car.
MARQUEZ: Police say Mark Hacking was the focus of the investigation from the start. And even if they don't find Lori Hacking's body, they believe their case is solid.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're hopeful that we will find the body, obviously, but we believe this case is strong enough that we could prosecute without that.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
MARQUEZ: Despite our best efforts, we tried to reach Mr. Hacking's attorney. Neither he nor Mr. Hacking's family had anything to say about the charges against Mr. Hacking. But speaking on AMERICAN MORNING a little earlier, Chief Dinse did say that Mr. Hacking's attorney, Gil Athay, did spend some time with his client.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) CHIEF RICK DINSE, SALT LAKE CITY POLICE: We arrested him at the hospital upon his release from the hospital. His attorney was present. His attorney was allowed to have private time with him before he was turned over to us. We took him into custody.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARQUEZ: Now, the chief also says that they've been in discussions with the district attorney about formal charges against Mr. Hacking and they said those charges -- that, in fact, that's going well. However, the D.A. would like to have Lori Hacking's body before they make charges. It sounded yesterday as though they had hoped to get to the arraignment before this weekend. It may take a little bit longer than that. They expect to start searching that landfill again on Wednesday.
Back to you.
COLLINS: Miguel, when you talk about charges, if, in fact, it is proven that Lori Hacking was pregnant, is there any chance those charges could change?
MARQUEZ: The only thing police are saying about that at this point is that it is possible and they'd like to have the body because then they can definitively prove she is pregnant. The one problem they have is that she took a home pregnancy test, apparently. She told friends she was pregnant. The one thing she didn't do, though, is go to a doctor yet. She was apparently only about five weeks pregnant. So they don't have that specific record, that official record of her pregnancy -- Heidi.
COLLINS: I see.
All right, Miguel Marquez live from Salt Lake City, Utah this morning.
Thanks, Miguel.
HEMMER: Twelve minutes now past the hour, Heidi,
Shifting our attention now to Mother Nature. The wind and rain picking up all morning long off the coast of North Carolina. Hurricane Alex on track to reach the Outer Banks a bit later today.
Chad Myers is outside of Atlantic Beach in North Carolina.
How are conditions -- Chad.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It's kind of ironic. As you can see, the sea roads out there in the foreground. They're all protected by all the big buildings and then they stuck me out here on the beach where the wind is and where the rain is. And we just had a gust here at least 60 miles per hour about five minutes ago.
And, also, if you take a look behind me, the ocean now really getting in a rage, all very foamy here. And as it comes in, notice how the waves are getting blown off the top. The wind actually blowing the waves. The whitecaps, if you will, getting blown off the top. And that's an indication that the waves and the winds now are about six feet coming onshore. And the winds now over 50 miles per hour. Otherwise you don't get that kind of a significant blow off there.
There is still more weather still to our south. We are on Atlantic Beach, not that far from Morehead City. And I would say maybe as the crow flies, 40 miles west of Cape Hatteras.
Now, the whole area there, you see a large eye to the south of where I am. That storm is still in the eye. It's still moving to the north. We still expect conditions to deteriorate from what we have now. And that entire system will skirt the Outer Banks, get into Kill Devil Hills to Corolla and into Duck and then eventually scoot out to sea, miss the Northeast, miss New York, miss all of the Northeastern states altogether.
The rest of the country doing pretty well this morning. We do have a couple of slowdowns, especially around Tampa, with some thunderstorms. In fact, the thunderstorms around Tampa are part of this entire system. One of the arms, one of the legs, if you will, Bill, went all the way down to Tampa. And that's why we have a little bit of a boundary down there slowing the airplanes down with thunderstorms.
Otherwise, you know what? We've seen it go down every half hour or so. By the time we come back again at, let's say maybe 9:40, 8:45, we're probably going to see it get worse yet.
Back to you.
HEMMER: So Chad, thanks.
Chad Myers there off the coast of North Carolina.
A stands for Alex, the first hurricane of the 2004 season.
We'll check back in again with Chad a bit later this morning.
Now Heidi again.
COLLINS: Fourteen minutes past the hour now.
Time for a look at some of the other news and Daryn Kagan -- Daryn, good morning once again.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Heidi, good morning to you.
There is word this morning of a car bombing in the Iraqi city of Ba'qubah. Military sources there say that three Iraqi National Guardsmen were killed and four others were wounded. Meanwhile, the family of a Turkish man is grieving after his apparent killing was posted on the Internet. A diplomat at the Turkish embassy missing in Baghdad says that authorities have seen the posting, but have not yet verified it. In Paraguay, four people have been detained for questioning in connection with a major supermarket fire. Officials are working with families to identify the more than 300 victims from Sunday's blaze. They're also looking into reports that people were trapped in the building by locked exit doors.
Here in the U.S., people in Missouri head to the polls today to vote on a constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriage. It's the first such vote in the country since Massachusetts legalized such marriages last year. Missouri and 37 other states already have laws that limit marriage as only between a man and a woman.
And in sports, Calvin Harrison has been dropped from the U.S. Olympic team. The sprinter was cut from the American track and field team because of a second doping violation. The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency says Harrison used a stimulant at the U.S. track and field championships back in June 2003.
Heidi, a lot of ramifications here. He was part of the relay team that won gold for the U.S. last year at the world championships. They might have to give back that medal as well.
Back to you.
COLLINS: What a bummer for the rest of the team, at least at this point.
KAGAN: Yes, absolutely.
COLLINS: All right, Daryn, thanks for that.
HEMMER: In a moment here, we talked yesterday with the Democratic presidential nominee, John Kerry, out in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Today, part two of our conversation. One of the things we talked about and you'll hear in a second, why is he now speaking about his days as a hunter and a fisherman, and, also, his faith in god, too? And what does that say about his candidacy and why is that message important in places like Michigan?
We'll get to that.
COLLINS: Also ahead, she symbolized the Abu Ghraib Prison scandal. Now, she's about to get her first day in court. We'll have a live report.
HEMMER: And second thoughts for the prosecution in the Kobe Bryant case. Is that the case and is that what we're hearing now and reading in these newly released court documents?
Jeff Toobin is looking into that across the studio when we continue in a moment here on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Welcome back, everyone. More sealed transcripts in the Kobe Bryant case now public record. The judge yesterday released 75 more pages of closed door testimony from a hearing back in June.
Our senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin stops in now.
Good morning to you.
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Good morning, sir.
HEMMER: You've gone through the transcripts yourself, a former prosecutor.
How do you feel right now, if you were on this case, about the strength of your case?
TOOBIN: The overwhelming impression from this latest release is that this case is hanging by a thread. The rulings against the prosecution, the rulings that said some of the accuser's sexual history may be made public during the trial are clearly very disturbing to the prosecution. There is the prospect of the mental health history being disclosed in the future. The judge hasn't decided whether that's admissible evidence.
But based on what one prosecutor said, as we'll discuss, it's clear that the prosecution has real doubts about whether they can win this case.
HEMMER: You brought it up. In the transcripts, June 21, the prosecutor, Ingrid Bakke, said, "I'm thinking the prosecution is going to sit down and reevaluate the quality of its case and its chances of a successful prosecution."
That is just blow after blow.
TOOBIN: That's a stunning thing for a prosecutor to say in open court, even though it was a sealed hearing. For a prosecutor to acknowledge that rulings against it are so significant that they may reevaluate whether to bring the case at all, here we are a little more than three weeks before jury selection. It's shocking but it's not a surprise given the way the evidence has gone so far.
HEMMER: And so if the mental history comes into play here, as you suggested in your first answer, is that the another shoe that may drop?
TOOBIN: That is the shoe that remains before the trial begins. And that could lead to the end of the case. How that would work, I don't know. Whether the accuser would say, as her lawyer has says she's threatened in the past, I don't want to participate in this anymore; if the prosecution says look, we just feel like we can't prove our case anymore based on these legal rulings, I don't know what the mechanism would be for ending the case. But it is possible here.
HEMMER: Are we in the same scenario if those transcripts are not released to the media, albeit accidentally? TOOBIN: You know, I think we are pretty much in the same scenario, because the problem is not the public release of the transcripts. The problem for the prosecution is the substance of the evidence in the case and what the judge ruled. The problem is the ruling on the rape shield law, on admitting the evidence of her sexual history. The problem potentially is admitting the mental health history. That's regardless of the release of the transcripts.
So I don't think the release of the transcripts is the real problem here.
HEMMER: But you told me two weeks ago she can't just drop the case.
Why can't she? If she's the accuser and she brought the case to the prosecution, why not?
TOOBIN: She's a witness. Even though she is the victim in this case, she is a witness like any other witness. So witnesses can be subpoenaed and forced to testify. That's -- and she could be forced to testify in this case. That's as a technical legal matter. As a practical matter, as a prosecutor, you can't really prepare a trial...
HEMMER: Sure.
TOOBIN: ... and work in good faith with a victim who is not actively cooperating with you.
HEMMER: That clarifies it a bit better.
TOOBIN: All right.
HEMMER: The legal definition.
TOOBIN: Legal and real world. That's what we're trying to look at.
HEMMER: That's what they are.
Thank you, Jeff.
TOOBIN: Alrighty, man.
HEMMER: Break here.
In a moment here, hybrid cars supposed to help the environment. But one state is banking on the idea they might lower your blood pressure during rush hour, as well. What does all this mean? We'll get to it when we continue, after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Let's check in with Jack now and the Question of the Day.
CAFFERTY: Intelligence suggests that al Qaeda may try to disrupt the elections and the democratic process in the United States by carrying out some sort of large scale attack before the November elections. President Bush warned yesterday that we are "a nation in danger" and that both candidates are vowing to be tough in the war on terror.
The question we're asking is how would a terrorist attack, if it comes -- we certainly hope it doesn't -- but how would an attack affect the outcome of the election?
A. writes, in Palm Harbor, Florida: "The Democrats will say not enough has been done. The Republicans will say, see, I told you, we still aren't safe and we need to continue with the Bush plan. The rest of us will say see, politics as usual at the expense of the American people."
Bruce in New York writes: "An attack would simply give the election to the Democrats. Of course, in the long run, nothing would be gained since Kerry has nothing substantive or new to add to the current policy of President Bush."
Patrick writes: "If there were an attack, I don't think you could keep people away from the polls and I would suspect that voter turnout would be one of the largest in decades."
Mark writes: "Very little. Affect the outcome very little. They're going to thaw out bin Laden, put him on display the week before the election, assuring a Bush victory."
And William writes: "I will be out of the office and unable to reply to your question until Monday, August the 16th. If you need immediate assistance, please contact Michael Culpepper."
So a little joke there.
HEMMER: Hey, did you see the balloons last week in Boston?
COLLINS: Yes, we heard about them.
HEMMER: You know, they kind of had that -- they were on the delay effect.
CAFFERTY: We saw a few balloons.
HEMMER: Oh, yes, we did.
CAFFERTY: Not very many.
HEMMER: Well, Jay Leno was poking some fun at that last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO," COURTESY NBC)
JAY LENO, HOST: Well, good news today at the Democratic convention in Boston. The balloons finally fell. You know, they finally came down. Did you hear about that? You see the problems they had with the balloons? This is great. They were supposed to cascade down on the stage after the convention, all the balloons, and they didn't. Apparently they got held up. A stage hand was supposed to pull a lever to make them -- it didn't. He kept pulling. Finally, Teresa Heinz said just shove it, shove it, and then of course they came and they fell.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: What did you think of that?
COLLINS: He got booed.
HEMMER: Yes.
COLLINS: Did you hear that?
HEMMER: Yes.
COLLINS: Yes.
HEMMER: Well, better writing next time, huh?
The balloons came back...
CAFFERTY: Didn't we have a hand...
HEMMER: ... the floating balloons, by the way.
CAFFERTY: Didn't we have a hand in bringing that little balloon fiasco to the viewing public?
COLLINS: Well, yes.
HEMMER: Yes. He said he didn't know he was on the air at the time and he issued an apology.
OK, now, in a moment here, more of my interview yesterday with Senator John Kerry. In a moment, find out what he thinks of his speech last week in Boston.
Also, we're tracking Alex again today, the first hurricane of the season. A live update with Chad on where that storm is headed in a moment here.
Back after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired August 3, 2004 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning.
Lady Liberty reopening today, welcoming the masses yet again. While just across the harbor, guns at the ready in lower Manhattan for another day of high security.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I want people to know the truth, not the distortions that they get in national security campaigns.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: John Kerry our guest again today, continuing a swing through swing states. This morning, part two of my interview with the Democratic candidate.
Also, hurricane Alex moving closer and closer to North Carolina's Outer Banks. We are live there, as well, ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ANNOUNCER: From the CNN broadcast center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Bill Hemmer and Soledad O'Brien.
HEMMER: Good morning, everyone.
Heidi Collins with us today.
Soledad continues to take a little bit of time away. We'll keep you posted on that.
Good morning.
How are you?
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: I'm great.
How are you?
HEMMER: A lot of -- I'm fine, thanks.
A lot of angles to cover this morning on the terrorism story, including the opening of the Statue of Liberty. We're going to get to that story again this hour. Also, we'll talk to Congressman Chris Shays about the president's plan to implement a key recommendation on the commission. Will the White House plan take the teeth out of that proposal or will it add to it? We'll get to that in a second.
COLLINS: Also, police in Utah have arrested Mark Hacking now, accusing him of murdering his wife Lori. We'll get a report on the evidence in this case in just a moment.
HEMMER: Jeff Toobin stops by also, looking at the transcripts released in the Kobe Bryant case from yesterday. Some interesting comments by prosecutors. Is there a chance now they drop this case? And what did we learn from those transcripts, as well? We'll get to that.
COLLINS: Jack now and the "Cafferty File."
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Coming up in the "Cafferty File," we have a monkey and a toddler going at it in a Brooklyn supermarket. We have pictures.
And we have pictures of this, too, which I don't know, bodybuilders in Baghdad paying tribute to their hero, Arnold Schwarzenegger.
COLLINS: OK.
I haven't seen those, that's for sure.
CAFFERTY: Well, you will. That's if you stay here, too.
COLLINS: So I'll stay.
All right, Jack.
CAFFERTY: Yes, that's what we'll be doing in a little while.
COLLINS: Great.
Thanks for that.
CAFFERTY: Yes, you're most welcome.
COLLINS: All right, see you in a bit.
CAFFERTY: Yes.
COLLINS: The first in a series of congressional hearings convenes today, trying to turn recommendations from the 9/11 Commission into law. President Bush is endorsing their idea of the national intelligence director reporting to the White House, but not on the cabinet level.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't think that the office ought to be in the White House, however. I think it ought to be a stand alone group to better coordinate, particularly between foreign intelligence and domestic intelligence matters.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Connecticut Representative Christopher Shays is vice chairman of the House Government Reform Committee that meets today.
He is with us now this morning from Capitol Hill.
Congressman, hello to you and thanks for being with us.
REP. CHRISTOPHER SHAYS (R-CT), GOVERNMENT REFORM COMMITTEE: Good morning.
COLLINS: As you well know, President Bush says he does create -- he does support the creation of the national intelligence director. He doesn't want him to be cabinet level, however, and he doesn't want that person to handle the budgets of intelligence agencies.
Doesn't this just kind of muddle up the whole position?
SHAYS: Well, I would hope that over time he would want to see it both be a cabinet position and allow for budgetary authority as well as personnel authority. But, you know, this is the purpose of the hearings. We're going to have a robust debate about it and this is a healthy thing.
COLLINS: We spoke earlier with Fran Townsend, the assistant to the president for homeland security. She said if that position would have been made cabinet level, then the administration would have been accused of politicizing the position.
What does that matter?
SHAYS: Well, no, first, we don't -- never want to politicize it. We don't want this to be an operation within the White House. That has too much of the plumbers feeling of the, you know, 1972 and so on. But we definitely, I think, need to make sure that this is a position that commands respect with the other cabinet officials. And I don't see how making it a cabinet level makes it political.
COLLINS: All right, let's discuss, if we could, the recommendation from the 9/11 Commission now to strengthen the commission's oversight of intelligence. Let's talk about how difficult that is actually going to be, to reorganize Congress. You're going to have people giving up seats, appropriation power. I mean won't all of those things be very, very tough?
SHAYS: Well, they'll be very difficult, but from my standpoint, I'm not going to vote for any rule next year if I'm reelected that doesn't deal with these reforms. And I think other members need to basically say it just has to happen. I mean we're talking about national security. We're talking about grave threats to our country. And to argue about whether someone has the key position on a committee or loses some power, I think, is pretty pathetic. COLLINS: As far as the other recommendations, and there are many, nearly 40, I believe, do you have a good idea of which of those recommendations need to be legislation and which of them actually need to be direct orders?
SHAYS: Well, you know, that's what we're going to do in the hearing today. This is an overview hearing. We want to know what can be done administratively, what can be done through executive order, what can be done through regulation, what requires legislation and what is going to be a rules change in the House and the Senate when they form next year after the election.
That's one of the things we'll find out. And it's a mixture of all of the above.
COLLINS: OK, well, the hearings are taking place. But what about Congress? In recess. President Bush ever considered calling Congress back into session?
SHAYS: Well, I don't think he needs to. I mean frankly I smile at this, I mean we're all coming back. We have six full committees of Congress having hearings during August. Some of those full committees are going to subcommittee hearings. So I'll be back dealing with these issues in my own subcommittee. We're reading, all reading this report and, you know, I mean there's tremendous focus.
So I think the American people can feel pretty comfortable. Republicans and Democrats alike are digesting this, working on it in hearings and you're going to see some major action in September and October.
COLLINS: And the people will be waiting for that, I am sure.
Representative Chris Shays, thanks so much for your time this morning.
SHAYS: Thank you.
HEMMER: For the first time since the attacks of 9/11, the Statue of Liberty reopens its doors this morning to the public.
Kelly Wallace live there from Liberty Island -- Kelly, good morning.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill.
It is the last major monument in the U.S. to reopen since the September 11 attacks. And its reopening comes amid new terror warnings that al Qaeda could be planning another major attack in New York City.
Visitors will only be able to get inside the pedestal you see there behind me. The statue itself, including the observation deck at the top of the crown, will remain closed. And that has some law makers up in arms.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
WALLACE (voice-over): Lady Liberty welcoming the tired, poor and huddled masses, or at least the tired tourists, for the first time since September 11 with screening, scanning and scouring taking place outside and inside to keep visitors safe.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When we were talking around, there was plenty of policemen with their rifles and everything. And so that was kind of, it made you feel more comfortable being here, knowing that there's like so much heightened security.
WALLACE: Extra precautions are in place for the reopening in light of the weekend warnings that al Qaeda might be planning to hit financial targets in and around New York City.
LARRY PARKINSON, DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF INTERIOR: We're ramping up. We have beefed up patrols here on the island, as well as in the harbor.
WALLACE: Visitors will be able to go inside the pedestal and enjoy views of New York City from an observation deck, but the 151- foot tall statue itself, including the torch and the crown, will remain off limits due to security and safety concerns, something some New York law makers say is unacceptable.
REP. ANTHONY WEINER (D), NEW YORK: If there has ever been a symbolic victory for the terrorists, it's that we stand here in the shadow of ground zero and look at Lady Liberty and know that at least, in part, she remains closed.
WALLACE: It's not just how much has been reopened, but how much was spent to do it. A Senate committee has been investigating allegations of excessive and wasteful spending by the private foundation funding the Statue of Liberty, including $45,000 for a dog to chase geese away.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
WALLACE: A big question is why has it taken nearly three years to partially reopen the Statue of Liberty? Interior officials say the delay was due, in part, to security upgrades. But they also say it was due to new safety measures -- installing new exits and a new sprinkler system in case of a fire to keep visitors safe.
The official reopening ceremony takes place a few hours from now, at 11:00 a.m. Eastern right here on Liberty Island -- Bill.
HEMMER: And we'll be there live to see it.
Kelly, thanks for that.
Kelly Wallace -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Police in Salt Lake City have not yet found the body of Lori Hacking, but her husband, Mark Hacking, has been arrested in connection with her death. We get the latest now from Salt Lake City and Miguel Marquez.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Police believe the mystery surrounding Lori Hacking is solved.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We believe that Mark Hacking is responsible for her disappearance and death.
MARQUEZ: Police believe that she was murdered in their apartment, and they say evidence seized there, a nearby dumpster, Lori Hacking's car, and testimony from witnesses led to a single charge of aggravated murder. But the question of where Lori Hacking's body is remains a mystery.
Police have been combing a two-acre plot in the city landfill.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The thought that her last resting place is a landfill is not a pleasant thought, and the thought that she may have to stay there is something else that we don't like to think about.
MARQUEZ: Chief Dinse says even though Lori Hacking's family knew the outcome was grim, the official charging of Mark Hacking brought a new round of grief.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're devastated, both sides of that family, both Hackings and the Suarez (ph) family are visibly upset over this.
MARQUEZ: Mark Hacking's mug shot is a contrast to the Mark Hacking who pled his case publicly just days after he reported that his wife never returned from an early morning jog.
MARK HACKING, LORI HACKING'S HUSBAND: She never made it in this morning. And I panicked. I called the police and I raced over here and found her car.
MARQUEZ: Police say Mark Hacking was the focus of the investigation from the start. And even if they don't find Lori Hacking's body, they believe their case is solid.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're hopeful that we will find the body, obviously, but we believe this case is strong enough that we could prosecute without that.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
MARQUEZ: Despite our best efforts, we tried to reach Mr. Hacking's attorney. Neither he nor Mr. Hacking's family had anything to say about the charges against Mr. Hacking. But speaking on AMERICAN MORNING a little earlier, Chief Dinse did say that Mr. Hacking's attorney, Gil Athay, did spend some time with his client.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) CHIEF RICK DINSE, SALT LAKE CITY POLICE: We arrested him at the hospital upon his release from the hospital. His attorney was present. His attorney was allowed to have private time with him before he was turned over to us. We took him into custody.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARQUEZ: Now, the chief also says that they've been in discussions with the district attorney about formal charges against Mr. Hacking and they said those charges -- that, in fact, that's going well. However, the D.A. would like to have Lori Hacking's body before they make charges. It sounded yesterday as though they had hoped to get to the arraignment before this weekend. It may take a little bit longer than that. They expect to start searching that landfill again on Wednesday.
Back to you.
COLLINS: Miguel, when you talk about charges, if, in fact, it is proven that Lori Hacking was pregnant, is there any chance those charges could change?
MARQUEZ: The only thing police are saying about that at this point is that it is possible and they'd like to have the body because then they can definitively prove she is pregnant. The one problem they have is that she took a home pregnancy test, apparently. She told friends she was pregnant. The one thing she didn't do, though, is go to a doctor yet. She was apparently only about five weeks pregnant. So they don't have that specific record, that official record of her pregnancy -- Heidi.
COLLINS: I see.
All right, Miguel Marquez live from Salt Lake City, Utah this morning.
Thanks, Miguel.
HEMMER: Twelve minutes now past the hour, Heidi,
Shifting our attention now to Mother Nature. The wind and rain picking up all morning long off the coast of North Carolina. Hurricane Alex on track to reach the Outer Banks a bit later today.
Chad Myers is outside of Atlantic Beach in North Carolina.
How are conditions -- Chad.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It's kind of ironic. As you can see, the sea roads out there in the foreground. They're all protected by all the big buildings and then they stuck me out here on the beach where the wind is and where the rain is. And we just had a gust here at least 60 miles per hour about five minutes ago.
And, also, if you take a look behind me, the ocean now really getting in a rage, all very foamy here. And as it comes in, notice how the waves are getting blown off the top. The wind actually blowing the waves. The whitecaps, if you will, getting blown off the top. And that's an indication that the waves and the winds now are about six feet coming onshore. And the winds now over 50 miles per hour. Otherwise you don't get that kind of a significant blow off there.
There is still more weather still to our south. We are on Atlantic Beach, not that far from Morehead City. And I would say maybe as the crow flies, 40 miles west of Cape Hatteras.
Now, the whole area there, you see a large eye to the south of where I am. That storm is still in the eye. It's still moving to the north. We still expect conditions to deteriorate from what we have now. And that entire system will skirt the Outer Banks, get into Kill Devil Hills to Corolla and into Duck and then eventually scoot out to sea, miss the Northeast, miss New York, miss all of the Northeastern states altogether.
The rest of the country doing pretty well this morning. We do have a couple of slowdowns, especially around Tampa, with some thunderstorms. In fact, the thunderstorms around Tampa are part of this entire system. One of the arms, one of the legs, if you will, Bill, went all the way down to Tampa. And that's why we have a little bit of a boundary down there slowing the airplanes down with thunderstorms.
Otherwise, you know what? We've seen it go down every half hour or so. By the time we come back again at, let's say maybe 9:40, 8:45, we're probably going to see it get worse yet.
Back to you.
HEMMER: So Chad, thanks.
Chad Myers there off the coast of North Carolina.
A stands for Alex, the first hurricane of the 2004 season.
We'll check back in again with Chad a bit later this morning.
Now Heidi again.
COLLINS: Fourteen minutes past the hour now.
Time for a look at some of the other news and Daryn Kagan -- Daryn, good morning once again.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Heidi, good morning to you.
There is word this morning of a car bombing in the Iraqi city of Ba'qubah. Military sources there say that three Iraqi National Guardsmen were killed and four others were wounded. Meanwhile, the family of a Turkish man is grieving after his apparent killing was posted on the Internet. A diplomat at the Turkish embassy missing in Baghdad says that authorities have seen the posting, but have not yet verified it. In Paraguay, four people have been detained for questioning in connection with a major supermarket fire. Officials are working with families to identify the more than 300 victims from Sunday's blaze. They're also looking into reports that people were trapped in the building by locked exit doors.
Here in the U.S., people in Missouri head to the polls today to vote on a constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriage. It's the first such vote in the country since Massachusetts legalized such marriages last year. Missouri and 37 other states already have laws that limit marriage as only between a man and a woman.
And in sports, Calvin Harrison has been dropped from the U.S. Olympic team. The sprinter was cut from the American track and field team because of a second doping violation. The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency says Harrison used a stimulant at the U.S. track and field championships back in June 2003.
Heidi, a lot of ramifications here. He was part of the relay team that won gold for the U.S. last year at the world championships. They might have to give back that medal as well.
Back to you.
COLLINS: What a bummer for the rest of the team, at least at this point.
KAGAN: Yes, absolutely.
COLLINS: All right, Daryn, thanks for that.
HEMMER: In a moment here, we talked yesterday with the Democratic presidential nominee, John Kerry, out in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Today, part two of our conversation. One of the things we talked about and you'll hear in a second, why is he now speaking about his days as a hunter and a fisherman, and, also, his faith in god, too? And what does that say about his candidacy and why is that message important in places like Michigan?
We'll get to that.
COLLINS: Also ahead, she symbolized the Abu Ghraib Prison scandal. Now, she's about to get her first day in court. We'll have a live report.
HEMMER: And second thoughts for the prosecution in the Kobe Bryant case. Is that the case and is that what we're hearing now and reading in these newly released court documents?
Jeff Toobin is looking into that across the studio when we continue in a moment here on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Welcome back, everyone. More sealed transcripts in the Kobe Bryant case now public record. The judge yesterday released 75 more pages of closed door testimony from a hearing back in June.
Our senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin stops in now.
Good morning to you.
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Good morning, sir.
HEMMER: You've gone through the transcripts yourself, a former prosecutor.
How do you feel right now, if you were on this case, about the strength of your case?
TOOBIN: The overwhelming impression from this latest release is that this case is hanging by a thread. The rulings against the prosecution, the rulings that said some of the accuser's sexual history may be made public during the trial are clearly very disturbing to the prosecution. There is the prospect of the mental health history being disclosed in the future. The judge hasn't decided whether that's admissible evidence.
But based on what one prosecutor said, as we'll discuss, it's clear that the prosecution has real doubts about whether they can win this case.
HEMMER: You brought it up. In the transcripts, June 21, the prosecutor, Ingrid Bakke, said, "I'm thinking the prosecution is going to sit down and reevaluate the quality of its case and its chances of a successful prosecution."
That is just blow after blow.
TOOBIN: That's a stunning thing for a prosecutor to say in open court, even though it was a sealed hearing. For a prosecutor to acknowledge that rulings against it are so significant that they may reevaluate whether to bring the case at all, here we are a little more than three weeks before jury selection. It's shocking but it's not a surprise given the way the evidence has gone so far.
HEMMER: And so if the mental history comes into play here, as you suggested in your first answer, is that the another shoe that may drop?
TOOBIN: That is the shoe that remains before the trial begins. And that could lead to the end of the case. How that would work, I don't know. Whether the accuser would say, as her lawyer has says she's threatened in the past, I don't want to participate in this anymore; if the prosecution says look, we just feel like we can't prove our case anymore based on these legal rulings, I don't know what the mechanism would be for ending the case. But it is possible here.
HEMMER: Are we in the same scenario if those transcripts are not released to the media, albeit accidentally? TOOBIN: You know, I think we are pretty much in the same scenario, because the problem is not the public release of the transcripts. The problem for the prosecution is the substance of the evidence in the case and what the judge ruled. The problem is the ruling on the rape shield law, on admitting the evidence of her sexual history. The problem potentially is admitting the mental health history. That's regardless of the release of the transcripts.
So I don't think the release of the transcripts is the real problem here.
HEMMER: But you told me two weeks ago she can't just drop the case.
Why can't she? If she's the accuser and she brought the case to the prosecution, why not?
TOOBIN: She's a witness. Even though she is the victim in this case, she is a witness like any other witness. So witnesses can be subpoenaed and forced to testify. That's -- and she could be forced to testify in this case. That's as a technical legal matter. As a practical matter, as a prosecutor, you can't really prepare a trial...
HEMMER: Sure.
TOOBIN: ... and work in good faith with a victim who is not actively cooperating with you.
HEMMER: That clarifies it a bit better.
TOOBIN: All right.
HEMMER: The legal definition.
TOOBIN: Legal and real world. That's what we're trying to look at.
HEMMER: That's what they are.
Thank you, Jeff.
TOOBIN: Alrighty, man.
HEMMER: Break here.
In a moment here, hybrid cars supposed to help the environment. But one state is banking on the idea they might lower your blood pressure during rush hour, as well. What does all this mean? We'll get to it when we continue, after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Let's check in with Jack now and the Question of the Day.
CAFFERTY: Intelligence suggests that al Qaeda may try to disrupt the elections and the democratic process in the United States by carrying out some sort of large scale attack before the November elections. President Bush warned yesterday that we are "a nation in danger" and that both candidates are vowing to be tough in the war on terror.
The question we're asking is how would a terrorist attack, if it comes -- we certainly hope it doesn't -- but how would an attack affect the outcome of the election?
A. writes, in Palm Harbor, Florida: "The Democrats will say not enough has been done. The Republicans will say, see, I told you, we still aren't safe and we need to continue with the Bush plan. The rest of us will say see, politics as usual at the expense of the American people."
Bruce in New York writes: "An attack would simply give the election to the Democrats. Of course, in the long run, nothing would be gained since Kerry has nothing substantive or new to add to the current policy of President Bush."
Patrick writes: "If there were an attack, I don't think you could keep people away from the polls and I would suspect that voter turnout would be one of the largest in decades."
Mark writes: "Very little. Affect the outcome very little. They're going to thaw out bin Laden, put him on display the week before the election, assuring a Bush victory."
And William writes: "I will be out of the office and unable to reply to your question until Monday, August the 16th. If you need immediate assistance, please contact Michael Culpepper."
So a little joke there.
HEMMER: Hey, did you see the balloons last week in Boston?
COLLINS: Yes, we heard about them.
HEMMER: You know, they kind of had that -- they were on the delay effect.
CAFFERTY: We saw a few balloons.
HEMMER: Oh, yes, we did.
CAFFERTY: Not very many.
HEMMER: Well, Jay Leno was poking some fun at that last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO," COURTESY NBC)
JAY LENO, HOST: Well, good news today at the Democratic convention in Boston. The balloons finally fell. You know, they finally came down. Did you hear about that? You see the problems they had with the balloons? This is great. They were supposed to cascade down on the stage after the convention, all the balloons, and they didn't. Apparently they got held up. A stage hand was supposed to pull a lever to make them -- it didn't. He kept pulling. Finally, Teresa Heinz said just shove it, shove it, and then of course they came and they fell.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: What did you think of that?
COLLINS: He got booed.
HEMMER: Yes.
COLLINS: Did you hear that?
HEMMER: Yes.
COLLINS: Yes.
HEMMER: Well, better writing next time, huh?
The balloons came back...
CAFFERTY: Didn't we have a hand...
HEMMER: ... the floating balloons, by the way.
CAFFERTY: Didn't we have a hand in bringing that little balloon fiasco to the viewing public?
COLLINS: Well, yes.
HEMMER: Yes. He said he didn't know he was on the air at the time and he issued an apology.
OK, now, in a moment here, more of my interview yesterday with Senator John Kerry. In a moment, find out what he thinks of his speech last week in Boston.
Also, we're tracking Alex again today, the first hurricane of the season. A live update with Chad on where that storm is headed in a moment here.
Back after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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