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American Morning
Florida Power & Light Discusses Post-Storm Power Situation; Latest News on Clinton's Condition; Interview with Bryant Accuser's Attorneys
Aired September 07, 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. Millions yet again today without power. Long lines for gas and for water. Buildings ripped open across the state. Today, all of Florida waking up to the reality yet again of Frances.
Former President Bill Clinton recovering from heart surgery. Doctors say he acted just in the nick of time.
And President Bush with a secret weapon on the campaign trail -- and 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. Soledad's home resting. She's added two to her clan -- family of six.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN ANCHOR: A family of -- right.
HEMMER: Four kids under the age of four living in Manhattan.
WALLACE: Amazing woman, yes.
HEMMER: You want that world?
WALLACE: Maybe some day, but need lots of advice from Soledad.
HEMMER: Kelly Wallace is in with us today. Great to you have you. Good morning, again.
WALLACE: Great to see you. Good morning, again. Good morning, everyone.
Some of the other stories we're following today -- in the Kobe Bryant case, for the first time, we're hearing from the lawyers who represented the alleged victim. We will talk to them it a few minutes, get the inside story on what made the Bryant trial fall apart.
HEMMER: Also, from Russia, this is a story that continues to just disturb just about everyone: the massacre there at that Russian school. Will it galvanize the country to fight terrorism? There's a former member of the Soviet military who will join us today.
We'll also talk about what kind of mistakes Russia made during that siege. So, we'll get to that.
Jack is on vacation -- all week, in fact -- but Toure's working hard for us on the e-mail. We'll get back to that.
WALLACE: Absolutely.
HEMMER: First, though, top of the hour, back to Betty Nguyen at the CNN Center. News in the now, there. Good morning, Betty.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Bill.
The number of American troops who have died in Iraq is edging towards 1,000. Want to give you some new pictures now this morning of fighting between U.S. troops and supporters of cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. A U.S. soldier is among the dozens of people killed in this fight, raising the American war toll to 998.
Russians are rallying against terrorism in the shadow of a school siege that killed some 340 children and adults near the Chechen border. Some 50,000 people gathered yesterday in St. Petersburg. Within the hour, a massive protest is expected to get underway in Moscow. We'll have more on the reactions to terrorism in Russia with a director from the Moscow Carnegie Center in the next half hour.
Former President Bill Clinton's heart surgery was a success, and he is resting this morning, on his way to recovery. Doctors say if Clinton hadn't had the quadruple bypass operation, he would have had a major heart attack very soon. We'll have a live update from the hospital with Dr. Sanjay Gupta. That's coming up in about five minutes.
And the New York Yankees asked baseball's Commissioners' Office to award them a forfeit over Tampa Bay last night. The Devil Rays were late because of Hurricane Frances. They wanted to play doubleheader starting at 3:00 in the afternoon. The Devil Rays didn't get to Yankee Stadium until 6:00, and the Yanks beat them 7-4. Now, despite the request, Commissioner Bud Selig will not order a forfeit of the earlier game.
Back to you, Bill.
HEMMER: Hey, Betty, guess what the biggest story in New York City is this morning.
NGUYEN: What?
HEMMER: That Yankees game last night. Everyone's talking about it here.
NGUYEN: I know.
HEMMER: Yankees win, by the way. Final score there over Tampa Bay. Thank you, Betty.
This morning, the remnants of Hurricane Frances -- downgraded now to tropical depression -- still over the deep south, and Georgia getting hammered at this hour.
Yesterday, though, strong winds, heavy rains adding insult to injury over parts of northern Florida. Damage said to be upwards of $10 billion. Today, the storm expected to dump 10 inches of rain along the Georgia/Alabama border, then north of there.
Frances blamed for 11 deaths in Florida, Georgia, and the Bahamas. More than three million homes and businesses across the state still without power today, and more than 50,000 residents still being forced to live in shelters.
Want to get to Gary Tuchman this morning, looking at more of the damage Frances has left behind.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is what Hurricane Frances brought to this home in Riviera Beach, Florida, and the hole in the roof means that for now when it rains outdoors, it also rains indoors. Tammy Dunn (ph) is not quite sure what she will do next.
TAMMY DUNN (ph): I can't believe it. I can't believe it.
TUCHMAN: Right down the street, another damaged roof -- this one with many holes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can see directly into the house.
TUCHMAN: Relatives on top of the house try to help the family matriarch Della Ferguson (ph), who evacuated her home before the arrival of Frances.
(on camera): Della, when you came home and saw your bed like this, what went through your mind?
DELLA FERGUSON (ph): I'm very discouraged, but I just thank God I wasn't here at the time. Because if I was home, I probably would have been in the bed, and I probably could have got hurt.
TUCHMAN: Scenes like this are taking place throughout many parts of the State of Florida, and it's fair to say there's a bit of paranoia about that other hurricane that may be heading in this direction.
(voice-over): Hurricane Ivan in the Caribbean has left many here very vigilant -- which isn't a bad thing, say many authorities. They believed the vigilance during Frances saved lives.
CHIEF CLARENCE WILLIAMS, RIVIERA BEACH, FLORIDA, POLICE: In terms of measuring it from my perspective, we're ahead of the game. Property damage can be replaced.
TUCHMAN: Much of the damage is extensive. This 46-story condo on Singer Island near West Palm Beach is one of Florida's tallest buildings. And then, there's the Kennedy Space Center's huge vehicle assembly building with a 50-foot hole on one side.
There are billions of dollars in damages from Hurricanes Frances and Charley, and for most, the repairs can't come soon enough.
Gary Tuchman, CNN, Riviera Beach, Florida.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: Also tomorrow, President Bush will go back to Florida and inspect the damage on his own there.
In the meantime, though, today, Kathy Scott of Florida Power & Light on the phone from Miami. Kathy, good morning. We spoke yesterday right about this time. How many now without power today for your customers?
KATHY SCOTT, SPOKESWOMAN, FLORIDA POWER & LIGHT: Bill, we're making some progress. We've restored power to 1.5 million customers in less than two days. However, we still have a long way to go. We still have 1.2 million customers without service.
HEMMER: That's 1.2 for your company. You service about half of the residents of Florida, which is a total of about eight million customers for you.
Are you satisfied with your progress, Kathy?
SCOTT: Well, we're never satisfied as long as people are without electricity. We want to get them restored as quickly as possible. But you know, Frances came on the heels of Hurricane Charley, less than a month ago, which disrupted service to about 900,000 of our customers.
So, we have been in a restoration mode, it seems like, you know, forever. And the same men and women who -- you know, who did Charley are now being called on to restore power again. You know, they're working 16 hour days. They're doing a fantastic job.
And we are, of course, just now able to get some crews into the state from other locations that are helping us out and getting them to staging sites and hopefully deploying them out today to do some work for us. So, it's getting better.
HEMMER: Yes, Kathy, best case scenario: Thursday, Friday, this weekend? What can you say?
SCOTT: Well, we did make some estimates yesterday for when we expect to be able to restore service in Miami-Dade and in south Florida. Hendry, Lee, and Collier Counties over in southwest Florida, we expect to be able to complete their restoration by Thursday. We also estimate that we should be able to complete restoration in Broward County, that's the Ft. Lauderdale area, by midnight Friday.
Those beyond that, we are not -- you know, we are still in an assessing stage, but we do hope to be able to make some estimates by Thursday for some of the other 25 or so counties that are impacted as to when they might get their power back. But it's going to be a very long and extended period.
HEMMER: Good luck, all right? And patience, again, in Florida. Kathy Scott, Florida Power & Light there.
Rob Marciano's watching the map. We're talking about Charley, then we talked about Frances, and now it is Ivan lurking out there. Cat 2 -- Category 2, is that right, Rob?
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: That's right. At the moment, it is. Expected to strengthen just a little bit as we go on through the next couple days. It is way out there, though. It's about to head into the Lesser Antilles Islands, well to the south, almost towards Venezuela and Colombia.
It strengthened rapidly, decreased a little bit, now it's gaining a little bit more strength. It is expected to head into the Caribbean, and then eventually close toward, say, the island of Hispaniola, Cuba, and then through Jamaica, as well -- possibly heading up toward the Florida Panhandle.
But that's not going to happen until we head later into the weekend -- or later toward the end of this week, and we'll see where it is at that point. There are some computer models take it that way, some that take it this way. Either way, our forecast pretty much stops when it gets to this direction.
(WEATHER REPORT)
WALLACE: Thanks, Rob. Keeping you very busy these days.
We are now "Paging Dr. Gupta" this morning about former President Clinton's recovery after a successful quadruple bypass operation. Sanjay's with us from New York Presbyterian Hospital.
And Sanjay, how is the former president doing?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: He's doing very well. Resting comfortably, off the breathing tube, already talkative, we're hearing, from his doctors, as well. Doing standard for any of the 1,000 or so patients that have this procedure every day.
Really, the name of the game for him now is preventing recurrence. This is how one of his doctors summed it up.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. ALLAN SCHWARTZ, CHIEF OF CARDIOLOGY: We have to make sure that he doesn't develop new blockages in his own blood vessels, or that he doesn't clog up the bypass grafts that we've done. And that will involve some changes in his medical regimen, some changes in his diet, and a continuation of his very vigorous exercise program.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUPTA: And remarkably, all of that, Kelly, is going to start right away. Cardiac rehabilitation typically takes about two months, Kelly.
WALLACE: And Sanjay, what about some possible side effects that the former president could face?
GUPTA: Yes, you know, it's an important point, because he's still considered in critical condition, even though he may be transferred out of the ICU later on today. There's still considerations, such as irregular heartbeat: What is his heart function?
He may also have things like transient fevers, as well. Mild depression, oftentimes associated after the type of heart procedure that the president had. Oftentimes, it's just more of a sort of realizing you've had a brush with mortality that causes that depression.
But the good news is most of those things sort of clear up with some time, Kelly.
WALLACE: And Sanjay, you know, Democrats across the country want to know this question: How soon might it be before Bill Clinton is back on the campaign trail for John Kerry?
GUPTA: Yes, you know, it's interesting, Kelly. Not surprisingly, a lot of people asking that question, as well. One of the reporters asked Dr. Smith , who's his cardiac surgeon, that very question. This is what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. CRAIG SMITH, CHIEF CARDIOTHORACIC SURGEON: How soon he can go back to work will have a lot to do with how well he can control the environment he's going into. He's going to step into a campaign scene where he's got to be 110 percent 48 hours running. He's not going to be able to do that for a while.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
So -- but you know, Kelly, as well as anyone, it's going to be pretty hard to keep him down. We'll see. Again, about two months of cardiac rehabilitation. He's going to need to be pretty diligent about that for him to have a full recovery, Kelly.
WALLACE: Yes, Sanjay. We bet he's going to want to get out there as soon as he can. Thanks, Sanjay. And of course, you will be talking with Dr. Craig Smith, President Clinton's lead surgeon. That'll be coming your way at 9:00 a.m. Eastern. You won't want to miss that.
HEMMER: And we'll get an update at that point.
Break here in a moment on AMERICAN MORNING. There's a new breed of terrorism some consider after a string of deadly attacks. Russia's still reeling. At least one expert says the government is a bigger problem than the terrorists. We'll talk to him.
WALLACE: Also, the lessons learned in Iraq. The U.S. looks for new ways to fight an ever-evolving enemy.
HEMMER: Fourteen months and an apology: Kobe Bryant trial over before it began. In a moment, we'll talk to the accuser's lawyers in their first TV interview since the case was dropped -- ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Attorneys for the woman who claims Kobe Bryant sexually assaulted her are speaking publicly for the first time about the criminal case and how that case crumbled. The accuser's civil suit against Bryant still going forward, though.
Her attorneys are Lin Wood and John Clune. They're my guests now here in New York, and good morning to both of you.
L. LIN WOOD, ATTY. FOR BRYANT'S ACCUSER: Good morning.
JOHN CLUNE, ATTY. FOR BRYANT'S ACCUSER: Good morning.
HEMMER: John, in the end, why did she make the decision not to go forward?
CLUNE: You know, I think that we saw a fairly systematic breakdown of the criminal justice system over the past 14 months. And probably four or five weeks ago, she really started to have some concerns, and we had concerns, as her attorneys, about whether or not she was going to get a fair trial.
And ultimately, the availability of this type of powerful statement that Mr. Bryant made, both apologizing to her directly and also admitting and conceding that he sees why she felt like this encounter was non-consensual, our client felt that it was in definitely her better interests...
HEMMER: I'm going to get to the statement in a moment here. Was there one thing, or was there a series of events that led her to reach the conclusions she did?
CLUNE: It was certainly a series of events that led to this conclusion. And those events, combined with the statement, told her what she needed to do.
HEMMER: Here is the statement, the apology from Kobe Bryant, "I want to apologize directly to the young woman involved in this incident. I want to apologize to her for my behavior that night and for the consequences she has suffered in the past year. Although I truly believe this encounter between us was consensual, I recognize now that she did not and does not view this incident the same way I did."
How important was that statement to your client.
WOOD: Well, the next sentence in with the paragraph you were reading goes on to say that Bryant admits that looking at the evidence, hearing her attorneys, and hearing her testify that he recognizes that she sincerely believes that this was a non-consensual encounter. That's a remarkable admission.
Remember, this started off, Bill, with Kobe Bryant having to publicly admit that he committed adultery. He initially told the police that he had no sexual encounter with our client.
And now it ends, in effect, the criminal case with Kobe Bryant having to issue a public apology directed directly to this young girl and to her family, acknowledging that he does not question her motives in pursuing the case, and then making this admission that I think is remarkable.
HEMMER: As the civil suit moves forward, what are you seeking?
WOOD: Well, we're seeking fair compensation for this young girl's -- for the injury done.
HEMMER: What's considered fair?
WOOD: You know, it's up to a jury ultimately to decide what she deserves in terms of fair compensation. The injury is enormous. This young girl will live with the scars of this rape for the rest of her life, as well as the aftermath of being involved in this incident, because her life -- as you know from following this for 14 months -- this young girl has had her life threatened. Two men have gone to jail that threatened her life. Her privacy has been invaded. And her reputation has been basically destroyed.
It's going to take her the rest of her life to get over it, if she really ever can.
HEMMER: So, that takes us to the next question now -- and either one of you gentlemen who wants to answer this -- if that is the case and the reality for this young woman, then if you're going to proceed with a civil case, you're going to continue possibly to open her up to the possibility that she's going to be exposed in a way that will see her victimized yet again, as you state.
John, is that a concern?
CLUNE: Not so much, and here's why. There were certain protections that the criminal case was supposed to afford this young girl, and the criminal case failed in offering those protections. The things that were supposed to protect her from being abused publicly, being besmirched in the media, from having her non-relevant sexual history, mental health history -- those types of things were all things that the criminal case was supposed to cover for her, and they didn't happen.
HEMMER: Did the D.A. make mistakes?
CLUNE: I think that if you asked the D.A. himself, he would be very comfortable telling you that if he had to do some things over again, he would certainly do those things over again.
HEMMER: Such as? CLUNE: I think some of the issues on how he litigated some of the rape shield issues. I think that's probably the most significant thing that they would take a second look at and change their practice.
But in terms of the D.A.'s office, the one thing that you need from your D.A.'s office who's prosecuting one of these cases is a true and complete commitment to seek the truth. And we did feel our D.A.'s office...
HEMMER: Did either one of you try and talk this woman out of backing out on the criminal side?
WOOD: This decision was made by this young girl. Obviously, we had a duty to recommend to her what we thought was in her best interests, but this was ultimately her decision.
And remember this: She was prepared to go forward with the criminal case, even though she recognized, as John has said some time ago, that the criminal justice system in Eagle had miserably failed her, and she had serious doubts that she would be treated fairly.
If Kobe Bryant had not agreed to those words in a signed public statement, we would still have a criminal case being tried today. She would have gone forward, even knowing that, in that system, she was not going to be treated fairly.
I want to add one other thing to what John said too, Bill, about the civil case and what it'll do to her. She knows that it will continue to deep out there in the public the discussion about her as a person and her private life. But you know, she's been there. The defense team has already taken this girl and drug her through the mud.
The civil case is going to turn, I think, the focus away from her, and it's going to turn the focus more on Kobe Bryant. Because this case has now been dismissed, Kobe Bryant cannot take the Fifth Amendment. He will have to testify. We'll have an opportunity to cross-examine him in a deposition under oath. And I think that's going to change the focus of this case, when people start looking at him and looking at what happened in that hotel room that night.
HEMMER: Lin Wood, John Clune, thanks for your time this morning.
CLUNE: Thank you, Bill.
WOOD: Thank you, Bill.
HEMMER: All right -- Kelly.
WALLACE: Thanks, Bill.
A fascinating interview.
Still to come, it hasn't even been a day since Frances left parts of Florida in pieces and already people are turning their attention to another storm looming in the Atlantic. We'll have the latest. Stay with us here on AMERICAN MORNING. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: From the it takes one to know one department, heart bypass veteran David Letterman, a political spin on President Clinton's surgery.
Here's "THE LATE SHOW."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID LETTERMAN, HOST, "THE LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN": I was reading the background information and I didn't realize this, that apparently Al Gore had a similar procedure. Did you folks realize that? Al Gore had a similar procedure. It's true. About four years ago, he had what is called an Oval Office bypass.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: That's not bad.
TOURE, "ROLLING STONE" MAGAZINE: Oh, yes, right.
WALLACE: How cool.
HEMMER: Hey, we're missing Jack this week. He's on vacation.
TOURE: You're missing Jack?
(CROSSTALK)
TOURE: You're not happy to have me?
HEMMER: I mean, the same...
(CROSSTALK)
HEMMER: Well, I like both of you.
TOURE: Clean it up.
HEMMER: But there's not enough room on this desk up here.
TOURE: Clean it up.
(CROSSTALK)
TOURE: All right, all right. I know what you mean. Jeez.
President Clinton once again ended up on the surgeon's table, after years of indulging his legendary appetite for junk food. His affinity for junk food certified him as a man of the people. But all that junk food nearly killed him.
Now, in the interests of full disclosure, I love Kentucky Fried Chicken far more than the next man, but since I saw Morgan Spurlock's documentary, "Super Size Me," I've been far too scared to step foot in any fast food emporium. But I digress.
WALLACE: How about that?
TOURE: We're wondering if junk food should be illegal or at least closely monitored by the government, the way alcohol is. Our question, should the government strictly regulate junk food, like it does with tobacco and alcohol?
And we have some killer e-mails from the people today.
HEMMER: Go!
TOURE: Dee from Syracuse, Indiana: "If the government were to regulate junk food, who knows where the regulation would stop? Soon we'd be told when to sleep, when to eat, when to work, what to buy and free choice would be no longer. 1984 would be here."
Heila -- I'm going to guess; sorry about that, sweetheart: "Absolutely yes. Junk food should be regulated by the government, like drugs and alcohol. And the obesity problem in the U.S. is out of control. And even for those who do not gain weight from junk food, their health is still being compromised."
OK, Tom from Knoxville, Iowa has a nice little time line for us: "The government places controls on junk food. Within a year, the cost of a hamburger goes up 50 percent. That's followed by an unexpected shortage of buns, which leads to a drop in consumption, which leads to a massive deficit that has to be funded by taxpayer relief legislation." And he goes on and on.
HEMMER: And there you have it.
WALLACE: That's Economics 101.
TOURE: That's a good one. And here, Darcy says: "Adding the Big Macs to the list of controlled substances just doesn't seem right. Would you like contraband fries with that?"
WALLACE: People are on a roll this morning.
TOURE: I know. We got -- there was another one about an underground Whopper. Love that.
HEMMER: Do you only eat KFC? Is that the only junk food you indulge?
TOURE: You know, I used to mess with the fries at McDonald's because they're so darned good...
WALLACE: Yes, right. Right.
TOURE: But, you know, you -- but you...
HEMMER: Yes?
TOURE: You've quit. You're cold turkey now. HEMMER: No. That's not necessarily true.
TOURE: Occasionally with the junk food?
HEMMER: No. We were stuffing it over the weekend though down there in Florida.
WALLACE: Of course you have...
HEMMER: It was the only thing to eat.
TOURE: Well, you had no choice.
HEMMER: That was exactly right.
By the way, can I borrow that shirt this weekend? I think that's the best one yet.
TOURE: Well, I'm going to keep it, but I'll send you to the store, brother.
WALLACE: All right.
TOURE: How about that?
HEMMER: Done.
WALLACE: All right, all right. More of Toure just ahead.
Still to come here on AMERICAN MORNING, there is a growing terrorist threat inside Russia with links to al Qaeda. But President Vladimir Putin may have to fight his own government before he can do anything about it. We'll take a look. That's ahead right here on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired September 7, 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. Millions yet again today without power. Long lines for gas and for water. Buildings ripped open across the state. Today, all of Florida waking up to the reality yet again of Frances.
Former President Bill Clinton recovering from heart surgery. Doctors say he acted just in the nick of time.
And President Bush with a secret weapon on the campaign trail -- and 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. Soledad's home resting. She's added two to her clan -- family of six.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN ANCHOR: A family of -- right.
HEMMER: Four kids under the age of four living in Manhattan.
WALLACE: Amazing woman, yes.
HEMMER: You want that world?
WALLACE: Maybe some day, but need lots of advice from Soledad.
HEMMER: Kelly Wallace is in with us today. Great to you have you. Good morning, again.
WALLACE: Great to see you. Good morning, again. Good morning, everyone.
Some of the other stories we're following today -- in the Kobe Bryant case, for the first time, we're hearing from the lawyers who represented the alleged victim. We will talk to them it a few minutes, get the inside story on what made the Bryant trial fall apart.
HEMMER: Also, from Russia, this is a story that continues to just disturb just about everyone: the massacre there at that Russian school. Will it galvanize the country to fight terrorism? There's a former member of the Soviet military who will join us today.
We'll also talk about what kind of mistakes Russia made during that siege. So, we'll get to that.
Jack is on vacation -- all week, in fact -- but Toure's working hard for us on the e-mail. We'll get back to that.
WALLACE: Absolutely.
HEMMER: First, though, top of the hour, back to Betty Nguyen at the CNN Center. News in the now, there. Good morning, Betty.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Bill.
The number of American troops who have died in Iraq is edging towards 1,000. Want to give you some new pictures now this morning of fighting between U.S. troops and supporters of cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. A U.S. soldier is among the dozens of people killed in this fight, raising the American war toll to 998.
Russians are rallying against terrorism in the shadow of a school siege that killed some 340 children and adults near the Chechen border. Some 50,000 people gathered yesterday in St. Petersburg. Within the hour, a massive protest is expected to get underway in Moscow. We'll have more on the reactions to terrorism in Russia with a director from the Moscow Carnegie Center in the next half hour.
Former President Bill Clinton's heart surgery was a success, and he is resting this morning, on his way to recovery. Doctors say if Clinton hadn't had the quadruple bypass operation, he would have had a major heart attack very soon. We'll have a live update from the hospital with Dr. Sanjay Gupta. That's coming up in about five minutes.
And the New York Yankees asked baseball's Commissioners' Office to award them a forfeit over Tampa Bay last night. The Devil Rays were late because of Hurricane Frances. They wanted to play doubleheader starting at 3:00 in the afternoon. The Devil Rays didn't get to Yankee Stadium until 6:00, and the Yanks beat them 7-4. Now, despite the request, Commissioner Bud Selig will not order a forfeit of the earlier game.
Back to you, Bill.
HEMMER: Hey, Betty, guess what the biggest story in New York City is this morning.
NGUYEN: What?
HEMMER: That Yankees game last night. Everyone's talking about it here.
NGUYEN: I know.
HEMMER: Yankees win, by the way. Final score there over Tampa Bay. Thank you, Betty.
This morning, the remnants of Hurricane Frances -- downgraded now to tropical depression -- still over the deep south, and Georgia getting hammered at this hour.
Yesterday, though, strong winds, heavy rains adding insult to injury over parts of northern Florida. Damage said to be upwards of $10 billion. Today, the storm expected to dump 10 inches of rain along the Georgia/Alabama border, then north of there.
Frances blamed for 11 deaths in Florida, Georgia, and the Bahamas. More than three million homes and businesses across the state still without power today, and more than 50,000 residents still being forced to live in shelters.
Want to get to Gary Tuchman this morning, looking at more of the damage Frances has left behind.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is what Hurricane Frances brought to this home in Riviera Beach, Florida, and the hole in the roof means that for now when it rains outdoors, it also rains indoors. Tammy Dunn (ph) is not quite sure what she will do next.
TAMMY DUNN (ph): I can't believe it. I can't believe it.
TUCHMAN: Right down the street, another damaged roof -- this one with many holes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can see directly into the house.
TUCHMAN: Relatives on top of the house try to help the family matriarch Della Ferguson (ph), who evacuated her home before the arrival of Frances.
(on camera): Della, when you came home and saw your bed like this, what went through your mind?
DELLA FERGUSON (ph): I'm very discouraged, but I just thank God I wasn't here at the time. Because if I was home, I probably would have been in the bed, and I probably could have got hurt.
TUCHMAN: Scenes like this are taking place throughout many parts of the State of Florida, and it's fair to say there's a bit of paranoia about that other hurricane that may be heading in this direction.
(voice-over): Hurricane Ivan in the Caribbean has left many here very vigilant -- which isn't a bad thing, say many authorities. They believed the vigilance during Frances saved lives.
CHIEF CLARENCE WILLIAMS, RIVIERA BEACH, FLORIDA, POLICE: In terms of measuring it from my perspective, we're ahead of the game. Property damage can be replaced.
TUCHMAN: Much of the damage is extensive. This 46-story condo on Singer Island near West Palm Beach is one of Florida's tallest buildings. And then, there's the Kennedy Space Center's huge vehicle assembly building with a 50-foot hole on one side.
There are billions of dollars in damages from Hurricanes Frances and Charley, and for most, the repairs can't come soon enough.
Gary Tuchman, CNN, Riviera Beach, Florida.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: Also tomorrow, President Bush will go back to Florida and inspect the damage on his own there.
In the meantime, though, today, Kathy Scott of Florida Power & Light on the phone from Miami. Kathy, good morning. We spoke yesterday right about this time. How many now without power today for your customers?
KATHY SCOTT, SPOKESWOMAN, FLORIDA POWER & LIGHT: Bill, we're making some progress. We've restored power to 1.5 million customers in less than two days. However, we still have a long way to go. We still have 1.2 million customers without service.
HEMMER: That's 1.2 for your company. You service about half of the residents of Florida, which is a total of about eight million customers for you.
Are you satisfied with your progress, Kathy?
SCOTT: Well, we're never satisfied as long as people are without electricity. We want to get them restored as quickly as possible. But you know, Frances came on the heels of Hurricane Charley, less than a month ago, which disrupted service to about 900,000 of our customers.
So, we have been in a restoration mode, it seems like, you know, forever. And the same men and women who -- you know, who did Charley are now being called on to restore power again. You know, they're working 16 hour days. They're doing a fantastic job.
And we are, of course, just now able to get some crews into the state from other locations that are helping us out and getting them to staging sites and hopefully deploying them out today to do some work for us. So, it's getting better.
HEMMER: Yes, Kathy, best case scenario: Thursday, Friday, this weekend? What can you say?
SCOTT: Well, we did make some estimates yesterday for when we expect to be able to restore service in Miami-Dade and in south Florida. Hendry, Lee, and Collier Counties over in southwest Florida, we expect to be able to complete their restoration by Thursday. We also estimate that we should be able to complete restoration in Broward County, that's the Ft. Lauderdale area, by midnight Friday.
Those beyond that, we are not -- you know, we are still in an assessing stage, but we do hope to be able to make some estimates by Thursday for some of the other 25 or so counties that are impacted as to when they might get their power back. But it's going to be a very long and extended period.
HEMMER: Good luck, all right? And patience, again, in Florida. Kathy Scott, Florida Power & Light there.
Rob Marciano's watching the map. We're talking about Charley, then we talked about Frances, and now it is Ivan lurking out there. Cat 2 -- Category 2, is that right, Rob?
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: That's right. At the moment, it is. Expected to strengthen just a little bit as we go on through the next couple days. It is way out there, though. It's about to head into the Lesser Antilles Islands, well to the south, almost towards Venezuela and Colombia.
It strengthened rapidly, decreased a little bit, now it's gaining a little bit more strength. It is expected to head into the Caribbean, and then eventually close toward, say, the island of Hispaniola, Cuba, and then through Jamaica, as well -- possibly heading up toward the Florida Panhandle.
But that's not going to happen until we head later into the weekend -- or later toward the end of this week, and we'll see where it is at that point. There are some computer models take it that way, some that take it this way. Either way, our forecast pretty much stops when it gets to this direction.
(WEATHER REPORT)
WALLACE: Thanks, Rob. Keeping you very busy these days.
We are now "Paging Dr. Gupta" this morning about former President Clinton's recovery after a successful quadruple bypass operation. Sanjay's with us from New York Presbyterian Hospital.
And Sanjay, how is the former president doing?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: He's doing very well. Resting comfortably, off the breathing tube, already talkative, we're hearing, from his doctors, as well. Doing standard for any of the 1,000 or so patients that have this procedure every day.
Really, the name of the game for him now is preventing recurrence. This is how one of his doctors summed it up.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. ALLAN SCHWARTZ, CHIEF OF CARDIOLOGY: We have to make sure that he doesn't develop new blockages in his own blood vessels, or that he doesn't clog up the bypass grafts that we've done. And that will involve some changes in his medical regimen, some changes in his diet, and a continuation of his very vigorous exercise program.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUPTA: And remarkably, all of that, Kelly, is going to start right away. Cardiac rehabilitation typically takes about two months, Kelly.
WALLACE: And Sanjay, what about some possible side effects that the former president could face?
GUPTA: Yes, you know, it's an important point, because he's still considered in critical condition, even though he may be transferred out of the ICU later on today. There's still considerations, such as irregular heartbeat: What is his heart function?
He may also have things like transient fevers, as well. Mild depression, oftentimes associated after the type of heart procedure that the president had. Oftentimes, it's just more of a sort of realizing you've had a brush with mortality that causes that depression.
But the good news is most of those things sort of clear up with some time, Kelly.
WALLACE: And Sanjay, you know, Democrats across the country want to know this question: How soon might it be before Bill Clinton is back on the campaign trail for John Kerry?
GUPTA: Yes, you know, it's interesting, Kelly. Not surprisingly, a lot of people asking that question, as well. One of the reporters asked Dr. Smith , who's his cardiac surgeon, that very question. This is what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. CRAIG SMITH, CHIEF CARDIOTHORACIC SURGEON: How soon he can go back to work will have a lot to do with how well he can control the environment he's going into. He's going to step into a campaign scene where he's got to be 110 percent 48 hours running. He's not going to be able to do that for a while.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
So -- but you know, Kelly, as well as anyone, it's going to be pretty hard to keep him down. We'll see. Again, about two months of cardiac rehabilitation. He's going to need to be pretty diligent about that for him to have a full recovery, Kelly.
WALLACE: Yes, Sanjay. We bet he's going to want to get out there as soon as he can. Thanks, Sanjay. And of course, you will be talking with Dr. Craig Smith, President Clinton's lead surgeon. That'll be coming your way at 9:00 a.m. Eastern. You won't want to miss that.
HEMMER: And we'll get an update at that point.
Break here in a moment on AMERICAN MORNING. There's a new breed of terrorism some consider after a string of deadly attacks. Russia's still reeling. At least one expert says the government is a bigger problem than the terrorists. We'll talk to him.
WALLACE: Also, the lessons learned in Iraq. The U.S. looks for new ways to fight an ever-evolving enemy.
HEMMER: Fourteen months and an apology: Kobe Bryant trial over before it began. In a moment, we'll talk to the accuser's lawyers in their first TV interview since the case was dropped -- ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Attorneys for the woman who claims Kobe Bryant sexually assaulted her are speaking publicly for the first time about the criminal case and how that case crumbled. The accuser's civil suit against Bryant still going forward, though.
Her attorneys are Lin Wood and John Clune. They're my guests now here in New York, and good morning to both of you.
L. LIN WOOD, ATTY. FOR BRYANT'S ACCUSER: Good morning.
JOHN CLUNE, ATTY. FOR BRYANT'S ACCUSER: Good morning.
HEMMER: John, in the end, why did she make the decision not to go forward?
CLUNE: You know, I think that we saw a fairly systematic breakdown of the criminal justice system over the past 14 months. And probably four or five weeks ago, she really started to have some concerns, and we had concerns, as her attorneys, about whether or not she was going to get a fair trial.
And ultimately, the availability of this type of powerful statement that Mr. Bryant made, both apologizing to her directly and also admitting and conceding that he sees why she felt like this encounter was non-consensual, our client felt that it was in definitely her better interests...
HEMMER: I'm going to get to the statement in a moment here. Was there one thing, or was there a series of events that led her to reach the conclusions she did?
CLUNE: It was certainly a series of events that led to this conclusion. And those events, combined with the statement, told her what she needed to do.
HEMMER: Here is the statement, the apology from Kobe Bryant, "I want to apologize directly to the young woman involved in this incident. I want to apologize to her for my behavior that night and for the consequences she has suffered in the past year. Although I truly believe this encounter between us was consensual, I recognize now that she did not and does not view this incident the same way I did."
How important was that statement to your client.
WOOD: Well, the next sentence in with the paragraph you were reading goes on to say that Bryant admits that looking at the evidence, hearing her attorneys, and hearing her testify that he recognizes that she sincerely believes that this was a non-consensual encounter. That's a remarkable admission.
Remember, this started off, Bill, with Kobe Bryant having to publicly admit that he committed adultery. He initially told the police that he had no sexual encounter with our client.
And now it ends, in effect, the criminal case with Kobe Bryant having to issue a public apology directed directly to this young girl and to her family, acknowledging that he does not question her motives in pursuing the case, and then making this admission that I think is remarkable.
HEMMER: As the civil suit moves forward, what are you seeking?
WOOD: Well, we're seeking fair compensation for this young girl's -- for the injury done.
HEMMER: What's considered fair?
WOOD: You know, it's up to a jury ultimately to decide what she deserves in terms of fair compensation. The injury is enormous. This young girl will live with the scars of this rape for the rest of her life, as well as the aftermath of being involved in this incident, because her life -- as you know from following this for 14 months -- this young girl has had her life threatened. Two men have gone to jail that threatened her life. Her privacy has been invaded. And her reputation has been basically destroyed.
It's going to take her the rest of her life to get over it, if she really ever can.
HEMMER: So, that takes us to the next question now -- and either one of you gentlemen who wants to answer this -- if that is the case and the reality for this young woman, then if you're going to proceed with a civil case, you're going to continue possibly to open her up to the possibility that she's going to be exposed in a way that will see her victimized yet again, as you state.
John, is that a concern?
CLUNE: Not so much, and here's why. There were certain protections that the criminal case was supposed to afford this young girl, and the criminal case failed in offering those protections. The things that were supposed to protect her from being abused publicly, being besmirched in the media, from having her non-relevant sexual history, mental health history -- those types of things were all things that the criminal case was supposed to cover for her, and they didn't happen.
HEMMER: Did the D.A. make mistakes?
CLUNE: I think that if you asked the D.A. himself, he would be very comfortable telling you that if he had to do some things over again, he would certainly do those things over again.
HEMMER: Such as? CLUNE: I think some of the issues on how he litigated some of the rape shield issues. I think that's probably the most significant thing that they would take a second look at and change their practice.
But in terms of the D.A.'s office, the one thing that you need from your D.A.'s office who's prosecuting one of these cases is a true and complete commitment to seek the truth. And we did feel our D.A.'s office...
HEMMER: Did either one of you try and talk this woman out of backing out on the criminal side?
WOOD: This decision was made by this young girl. Obviously, we had a duty to recommend to her what we thought was in her best interests, but this was ultimately her decision.
And remember this: She was prepared to go forward with the criminal case, even though she recognized, as John has said some time ago, that the criminal justice system in Eagle had miserably failed her, and she had serious doubts that she would be treated fairly.
If Kobe Bryant had not agreed to those words in a signed public statement, we would still have a criminal case being tried today. She would have gone forward, even knowing that, in that system, she was not going to be treated fairly.
I want to add one other thing to what John said too, Bill, about the civil case and what it'll do to her. She knows that it will continue to deep out there in the public the discussion about her as a person and her private life. But you know, she's been there. The defense team has already taken this girl and drug her through the mud.
The civil case is going to turn, I think, the focus away from her, and it's going to turn the focus more on Kobe Bryant. Because this case has now been dismissed, Kobe Bryant cannot take the Fifth Amendment. He will have to testify. We'll have an opportunity to cross-examine him in a deposition under oath. And I think that's going to change the focus of this case, when people start looking at him and looking at what happened in that hotel room that night.
HEMMER: Lin Wood, John Clune, thanks for your time this morning.
CLUNE: Thank you, Bill.
WOOD: Thank you, Bill.
HEMMER: All right -- Kelly.
WALLACE: Thanks, Bill.
A fascinating interview.
Still to come, it hasn't even been a day since Frances left parts of Florida in pieces and already people are turning their attention to another storm looming in the Atlantic. We'll have the latest. Stay with us here on AMERICAN MORNING. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: From the it takes one to know one department, heart bypass veteran David Letterman, a political spin on President Clinton's surgery.
Here's "THE LATE SHOW."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID LETTERMAN, HOST, "THE LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN": I was reading the background information and I didn't realize this, that apparently Al Gore had a similar procedure. Did you folks realize that? Al Gore had a similar procedure. It's true. About four years ago, he had what is called an Oval Office bypass.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: That's not bad.
TOURE, "ROLLING STONE" MAGAZINE: Oh, yes, right.
WALLACE: How cool.
HEMMER: Hey, we're missing Jack this week. He's on vacation.
TOURE: You're missing Jack?
(CROSSTALK)
TOURE: You're not happy to have me?
HEMMER: I mean, the same...
(CROSSTALK)
HEMMER: Well, I like both of you.
TOURE: Clean it up.
HEMMER: But there's not enough room on this desk up here.
TOURE: Clean it up.
(CROSSTALK)
TOURE: All right, all right. I know what you mean. Jeez.
President Clinton once again ended up on the surgeon's table, after years of indulging his legendary appetite for junk food. His affinity for junk food certified him as a man of the people. But all that junk food nearly killed him.
Now, in the interests of full disclosure, I love Kentucky Fried Chicken far more than the next man, but since I saw Morgan Spurlock's documentary, "Super Size Me," I've been far too scared to step foot in any fast food emporium. But I digress.
WALLACE: How about that?
TOURE: We're wondering if junk food should be illegal or at least closely monitored by the government, the way alcohol is. Our question, should the government strictly regulate junk food, like it does with tobacco and alcohol?
And we have some killer e-mails from the people today.
HEMMER: Go!
TOURE: Dee from Syracuse, Indiana: "If the government were to regulate junk food, who knows where the regulation would stop? Soon we'd be told when to sleep, when to eat, when to work, what to buy and free choice would be no longer. 1984 would be here."
Heila -- I'm going to guess; sorry about that, sweetheart: "Absolutely yes. Junk food should be regulated by the government, like drugs and alcohol. And the obesity problem in the U.S. is out of control. And even for those who do not gain weight from junk food, their health is still being compromised."
OK, Tom from Knoxville, Iowa has a nice little time line for us: "The government places controls on junk food. Within a year, the cost of a hamburger goes up 50 percent. That's followed by an unexpected shortage of buns, which leads to a drop in consumption, which leads to a massive deficit that has to be funded by taxpayer relief legislation." And he goes on and on.
HEMMER: And there you have it.
WALLACE: That's Economics 101.
TOURE: That's a good one. And here, Darcy says: "Adding the Big Macs to the list of controlled substances just doesn't seem right. Would you like contraband fries with that?"
WALLACE: People are on a roll this morning.
TOURE: I know. We got -- there was another one about an underground Whopper. Love that.
HEMMER: Do you only eat KFC? Is that the only junk food you indulge?
TOURE: You know, I used to mess with the fries at McDonald's because they're so darned good...
WALLACE: Yes, right. Right.
TOURE: But, you know, you -- but you...
HEMMER: Yes?
TOURE: You've quit. You're cold turkey now. HEMMER: No. That's not necessarily true.
TOURE: Occasionally with the junk food?
HEMMER: No. We were stuffing it over the weekend though down there in Florida.
WALLACE: Of course you have...
HEMMER: It was the only thing to eat.
TOURE: Well, you had no choice.
HEMMER: That was exactly right.
By the way, can I borrow that shirt this weekend? I think that's the best one yet.
TOURE: Well, I'm going to keep it, but I'll send you to the store, brother.
WALLACE: All right.
TOURE: How about that?
HEMMER: Done.
WALLACE: All right, all right. More of Toure just ahead.
Still to come here on AMERICAN MORNING, there is a growing terrorist threat inside Russia with links to al Qaeda. But President Vladimir Putin may have to fight his own government before he can do anything about it. We'll take a look. That's ahead right here on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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