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American Morning
Interview with Maura Satchell and Elizabeth Edwards; Terrorism Intelligence Collected By FBI is Backlogged; Was Mona Lisa Real?
Aired September 28, 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.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: John Kerry and George Bush preparing to go head to head on foreign policy issues. A new poll shows who voters trust most on Iraq.
The FBI hunting terrorists before the election. So why haven't agents reviewed scores of audiotapes associated with terrorism?
From gouging on repair bills to complex cons, what are the hurricane scams going on right now in Florida?
And who's behind that famous smile? Solving the mystery of the real Mona Lisa, right down to her first meeting with Leonardo da Vinci, on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ANNOUNCER: From the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Soledad O'Brien and Bill Hemmer.
COLLINS: Good morning, everybody.
I'm Heidi Collins in for Soledad.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Also this hour coming up, we'll talk with John Edwards' wife Elizabeth, standing by, in a few moments here. She's appearing today with a group called Military Moms with a Mission. We'll find out what that mission is in a moment.
COLLINS: Also, we saw how important early detection was for President Clinton's heart disease. So, should more men go out and ask their doctor for a stress test on their heart? Sanjay has the answer to that very important question.
HEMMER: Also, Jack Cafferty -- good morning.
What's coming up in the "File?"
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's probably not a bad idea.
COLLINS: No.
CAFFERTY: If you're over a certain age, I would guess.
Coming up in "The Cafferty File," the story of a 108-year-old man who has resumed a rather nasty habit that he gave up when he was 99. This is very cool.
And the walking barbell out in California says no to the state's children. That would be the Governator.
HEMMER: That's right.
CAFFERTY: The walking barbell.
COLLINS: Governator. Got it.
All right, Jack, we'll check back with you in the just a little bit.
Meantime, though, we want to check on the stores now in the news with Rick Sanchez once again -- good morning to you, Rick.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Good morning, Heidi.
Moscow police are holding two men in connection with the murder of a Russian journalists. Paul Klebnikov was the editor of the "Forbes Russia" magazine. He was also a critic of organized crime. Klebnikov was gunned down near his Moscow office in July. Police are now saying they're questioning two Chechens in connection with this killing. No further details are available at this hour.
Charges have been dropped against the man who helped convince U.S. officials to attack Iraq. Long time Iraqi exile Ahmad Chalabi has been a close ally of the Bush administration's, but has since fallen out of favor, since being discredited by charges and allegations of malfeasance. He was indicted in a counterfeiting case in August. However, an Iraqi judge yesterday dismissed those charges, citing a lack of evidence.
About two million customers are without power and the cleanup continues after hurricane Jeanne. That's number four to the State of Florida. Relief trucks with water and other necessities are trying to get to the hardest hit regions. At least six people were killed in the U.S. as the hurricane moved through Florida. Coming up in our weather update, we're going to tell you what areas now face what is left of what was hurricane Jeanne.
Barry Bonds may have done all the work, but two other guys are now fighting over the spoils. The man who came up with Bond's 700th home run ball is being sued by another man, claiming the ball was taken from him while they were struggling. Take a look at that. The man who has the ball says he found it at the bottom of the pile of these fans who were fighting for the balls. And after all, it's his. Those are, by the way, Heidi, those are grownups, by the way, in case you were wondering.
HEMMER: Adults to the core.
COLLINS: Yes. We were wondering just a little bit.
All right, Rick Sanchez, thanks so much.
SANCHEZ: All right.
COLLINS: Well, if you're counting, there are now only 35 days until the election. Senator John Kerry is in Wisconsin, where he held a town hall meeting yesterday. Kerry has no scheduled appearances today, as he prepares for Thursday's first presidential debate.
President Bush campaigned in Ohio yesterday before returning to his Crawford, Texas ranch to continue his debate preps. And according to the latest CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll, President Bush has an 8 point lead now over Senator Kerry among likely voters. The poll also finds an edge for Bush on the question of whether the two candidates have a clear plan for Iraq's future.
Well, our next guests have definite opinions on Senator Kerry's plan for Iraq. They are Elizabeth Edwards, wife of vice presidential candidate John Edwards, and Maura Satchell, whose older son is a Marine who fought in Iraq at the beginning of the war and whose younger son is about to complete boot camp. Satchell is a Kerry supporter and a member of the group Military Moms with a Mission.
We see some other moms in the background there. They are all joining us live from Westover, West Virginia.
Ladies, thanks so much for being with us here on AMERICAN MORNING.
MAURA SATCHELL, "MILITARY MOMS WITH A MISSION": It's great to be with you.
ELIZABETH EDWARDS, WIFE OF JOHN EDWARDS: It's great to be here.
Thank you.
COLLINS: Mrs. Edwards, I would like to start with you.
As we just reported the numbers now that we're looking at for President Bush, holding a very strong lead over Senator John Kerry.
What do John Kerry and your husband, John Edwards, need to do to turn those numbers around?
EDWARDS: I think those numbers are not a concern because the American public has not really had a chance to see how these two men stand on various issues. We've been doing that in small formats across the country, even in larger rallies. But the American people as a whole will get a real idea of where these men stand in these debates. They'll get to see the details of John Kerry's thoughtful plan to -- with respect to Iraq, to bring our boys home and provide the stability in that country and at home, to work to create jobs, to address our health care crisis, which has not received any attention whatsoever in the last four years, and to help us on education and the environment and other issues.
These, all these issues will be discussed in the debates. The American people will have a firm idea about where these candidates stand. They can judge the men on their performance, on their programs, on their principles and their values. I feel very confident about the result when that discussion is over. COLLINS: Though we have seen sort of a shift, if you will, over the past couple of weeks with Senator Kerry's main message in that being Iraq.
So let's look at something else here which will tie into the Military Moms, for you guys this morning.
We have another poll that's basically focusing on the commander- in-chief and what people think about President Bush versus John Kerry in that role. You see the numbers there. Sixty-seven percent of those polled think Bush would make a good commander-in-chief. Only 49 percent feel that way about Mr. Kerry.
Is the majority here wrong, Mrs. Edwards?
EDWARDS: I think that the people you need to ask about who would make a good commander-in-chief are the people who are serving under and people who have served, people who are getting the consequences of his policies as commander-in-chief.
I think if you assume that you've got the nameless Republican candidate as running for office as a candidate, you would make an assumption that he would be pro-military. What you've seen from this president, though, is he has made choice after choice as commander-in- chief -- he's not that nameless candidate. He's George Bush with a record, a record of sending our men, these, the sons and husbands of these brave women here, into combat without the gear that they needed.
He's not taken the diplomatic steps that needed to make certain that they needed to go into battle. After they come back from battle, he has -- he's not stood beside them at the V.A. hospitals. He did something that I think is absolutely inexcusable. My dad was 25 years in the Navy. While these men were in theater, while they were in Iraq and while they were in Afghanistan, he actually tried to reduce their hazardous duty pay, now called imminent danger pay, while they were in theater. That is not the sign of a commander-in-chief who understands the sacrifices that those men and women make and that the families make who stand behind them and stand behind me right now.
COLLINS: And of course -- yes, pardon the interruption.
Mrs. Satchell, I'd like to get to you if I could there.
EDWARDS: Right.
COLLINS: There are those who would also say well, Senator John Kerry first voted to go to war and then voted against the funding in order to get the money to the troops for the things that they need. There are people who would say that, too, a very big mistake, if you're going to be commander-in-chief.
Your thoughts on that? You have quite a military family. Your perspective very interesting to us.
SATCHELL: Thank you. Initially, John Kerry, in his statement before the floor of the Senate, I think, said that he was authorizing President Bush to go to the United Nations to bring in those other diplomatic tools to work on disarming Iraq without going in there willy-nilly, if you will, unprepared, as we did go in. Unfortunately, again, you know, troops had to go in there without any -- a lot of their equipment necessary. Helmets that went in there were not up to the specifications that would stop AK-47 bullets. It's very sad what has happened there.
And regarding the $87 billion, I'm not quite the policy person to be able to talk to that, but I do know that everybody, it was a consensus in the whole Senate that they were going to get that entire $67 billion that was going for the Iraq, for the troops. And unfortunately the Republicans, with their political diversionary tactics, wanted to push things through in a different way.
Of course, they would have gotten that. But I really can't speak to that.
COLLINS: Mrs. Satchell, then tell me what you and the other military moms are hoping to accomplish. You're called Military Moms with a Mission.
What is that mission now?
SATCHELL: That's right.
Well, we're all pretty bright women, I should say. We've got one woman that's a wife, actually, of a military gentleman and she's going up for her doctorate in sociology, writing a paper right now on military families. That's her thesis. And she can speak about the situation on bases in the military, where bases are being closed and, you know, WIC there are Women, Infant and Children stands, ethnic commissaries in these things. And four years ago, Vice President Cheney, in his debate, said we're with you, military. We're going to be there for you. We're going to pull you out of this.
And you'd think Republicans would do that. But believe it or not, they have not done that this time. And it's unbelievable.
COLLINS: All right, to the two of you and to the ladies standing behind you, we certainly appreciate your time.
Elizabeth Edwards and Maura Satchell, once again, thanks so much, ladies, to you all.
The debate between President Bush and Senator Kerry is set for Thursday night in Miami. And CNN's live coverage will begin at 9:00 p.m. Eastern.
And watch AMERICAN MORNING as we prepare for the first presidential debate. We'll have live coverage from Miami on Thursday morning.
HEMMER: Nine minutes past the hour.
We're watching Jeanne, now a tropical depression, causing a lot of headaches up and down the East Coast.
Back to Rob, working for Chad today -- and good morning, Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Bill.
Rainfall a big headache, yes. And tornadoes. We had 17 reports of tornadoes touching down during the day yesterday. And rainfall amounts over the last 42 hours fairly impressive. And they strike not only from Florida, but through Georgia, as well.
Valdosta, 5.38 inches; Macon, Georgia, 5.30; and Gainesville, Florida, 4.73; just to name a few.
Here's where that rain shield is heading, across the Carolinas, Virginia and eventually into the major metropolitan areas. The red boxes that are familiar to you at this point indicate tornado watches. Right now there's not one, but it might be reissued later on today. A fairly impressive line that's moving through North Carolina at the moment.
Here's the northern end of that rain shield heading into upstate New York, Binghamton and across the New York Thruway, up through Hartford, eventually into Boston. Some of the rain could be heavy at times and we're already seeing travel delays across the New York City area airports and Philadelphia is seeing a lot of fog at the moment.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COLLINS: OK, Rob, thanks a lot.
American gymnast Paul Hamm is still defending the gold medal he won in Athens. An international court of arbitration is looking at the case because of a South Korean gymnast's complaint that the medal should have been his, but for scoring mistakes.
Paul Hamm and his lawyer Kelly Crabb are joining us now from Switzerland this morning.
Paul, nice to see you again.
The last time we spoke, we were talking about whether or not you thought you should keep this medal and now we've progressed this far to a hearing that happened yesterday.
How do you think it went?
PAUL HAMM, U.S. GOLD OLYMPIC COMMITTEE MEDALIST: It was definitely a fair hearing. Everyone got their chance to say what they needed to. You know, we definitely got to say our facts and get everyone's answers out. And I think it went pretty well.
COLLINS: Are you going to return that gold medal if the court decides that CAS, as we call it, decides that you should?
HAMM: Yes. If the court decides under the rules of gymnastics that I should give the medal back, I will. COLLINS: So how does that make you feel? I mean I would imagine you'd be pretty nervous about that after all of the work and all of the discussion and the controversy, if you will.
How does that make you feel knowing that that could happen?
HAMM: It is definitely an uncomfortable situation to be put in. But you know, the answer is not going to be out maybe possibly two weeks, maybe sooner. So, you know, I'll just try and forget about it until then, go back home. And I'm going to be going back on the Rock and Roll Gymnastics Tour. I have three more stops. And just try and forget about it until the answer comes out.
COLLINS: All right. Are you going to have to be testifying or will you be going before this hearing to tell your side of the story or will your attorney be handling that or will the Gymnastics Federation be telling the story? How much will you have to speak to your own defense?
HAMM: We've already had the hearing. It happened yesterday. It was about 12 hours. The hearing has already taken place. And today I have one more day in Switzerland. I'm in a really beautiful hotel here and I'm just going to enjoy it. And I leave tomorrow to go back to the U.S.
COLLINS: All right, Paul Hamm, we certainly appreciate your time this morning.
Once again, I know you're joined by your lawyer there, Kelly Crabb.
You guys, we appreciate it.
And I guess a couple more weeks until a decision will be made. And we will wait to get that decision.
HAMM: Thank you.
COLLINS: Good luck to everybody over there.
Thanks, Paul.
HEMMER: Twelve minutes past the hour.
A break.
Here in a moment, the FBI under fire. Why thousands of hours of audiotapes of suspected terrorists have gone without a review or translation. A good with. We'll have a look at that in a moment here.
COLLINS: Also, treadmill tests can be a good indicator of a man's heart health, but they may not be right for everybody. We're "Paging Dr. Gupta."
HEMMER: Also, recovering from a hurricane is hard enough without having to avoid the scams, as well. Some advice on what people need to look out for ahead this hour on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Fifteen minutes past the hour now.
The FBI is under criticism this morning after hundreds of thousands of hours of untranslated audio recordings were discovered. The talk may have been linked to terror plans.
Representative Christopher Cox with us today to talk about this.
He's the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee.
And good morning.
Welcome back here to AMERICAN MORNING.
REP. CHRISTOPHER COX (R), CALIFORNIA: Good morning.
Happy to be with you.
HEMMER: The number of hours just staggering, 123,000 hours without translation going back to 9/11; 370,000 hours of counterintelligence. The numbers, the hours, does this surprise you as much as it surprises us?
COX: Well, it is very, very disheartening. It is not a surprise. I've been following this problem for some time. In fact, before I came to the Congress in the private sector, I had a Russian translation business. I am intensely interested in this.
I saw these same problems when I chaired a select committee on national security in the late 1990s.
The FBI, to its credit, has been building a capacity as rapidly as it can. They're up to over 1,200 translators right now. But it isn't enough. The I.G.'s report focused on signals intelligence, voice not text intercepts. And this is the bigger part of the problem.
HEMMER: What would you say to families of victims who lost their loved ones back on 9/11? Because the impression is these tapes have just been laying around.
COX: Well, nothing has actually been laying around unaccounted for. It's really a question of matching the resources, the human and technical resources to translate with the enormous volume of material that must be translated. Of course, the 9/11 Commission has made a recommendation on this subject that Congress is moving forward with on a very, very fast track. In fact, we'll have legislation up this week and next in the Senate and in the House to deal with it directly.
The national intelligence director is going to have budget authority that will permit him to move money around and put much more in the way of resources behind this problem than has been the case in the past. HEMMER: Just take it a step further. Specifically, the new legislation does what? Now, you mentioned the linguists and the funding for the linguists having tripled since 9/11.
What does this bill do, then?
COX: Well, the opportunity that the national intelligence director will have to put money where it's most needed, to have that budget execution authority that we've all been talking about, is vitally important because when these problems are identified, we can move on them fast. We won't have to wait for years while Congress debates legislation and creates new programs.
HEMMER: But does that mean...
COX: We've also not established here in any way...
HEMMER: I apologize for the interruption. I'm just trying to cut through it here.
COX: Sure.
HEMMER: Does that mean, then, the hundreds of thousands of hours will be translated and you won't have a backlog like this again?
COX: Well, of course, we want to work off that backlog. But another problem that the I.G. identified is that as a matter of routine, the technology that was being employed deleted, in many cases, old material after a time certain. That cannot continue. You don't know what you're losing.
HEMMER: We're about 35 days away from a national election here.
Is there any specific threat that's been leveled against this country that you can speak of as we get closer to those national elections?
COX: Well, as you know, there's a constant daily, today included, focus on what terrorists are doing, what suspected terrorists are saying to each other and so on. When you piece all this together, it amounts to a very serious potential threat against our country throughout this election period into January and we're ready for it.
HEMMER: Christopher Cox, representative from California, live from Capitol Hill.
Thanks for your time.
COX: Happy to join you.
HEMMER: All right -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Still to come now this morning, who was the real Mona Lisa? One expert thinks we may now know.
Stay with us on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Jack's here once again with the Question of the Day.
CAFFERTY: Thank you, ma'am.
CBS News suffering a blow to its credibility, the result of "Rathergate." According to the latest CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll, 55 percent of those questioned said they still have confidence in CBS News' ability to report stories accurately. But 41 percent said they don't. And 26 percent of those questioned, one in four, think Dan Rather should be fired.
Here's the question. How can CBS News restore confidence following the Rather scandal?
Bill in Montana: "What CBS needs to do to restore confidence is find the real Bush documents that say the same thing. We all know they're out there."
Doug in Oneonta, New York: "Dan Rather has been showing his bias for the past several years, so this latest debacle is nothing new. He should resign, as well as his peers from NBC and ABC. The news slant is so blatant that our family almost never watches any of the major networks' news shows any longer.
Eve in Watsonville, California: "CBS can restore -- cannot restore my confidence. Dan Rather's political ideology has been evident long before this and they let him continue. I'll watch CNN when I want news."
HEMMER: Oh, my.
CAFFERTY: We'll be sending you something in the mail for that.
COLLINS: A coffee cup.
CAFFERTY: Chuck in -- yes, one of those cheesy, cheap coffee cups they give away on that show that precedes us that cost about $0.08 apiece and people line up to -- would you send me a cup? I mean it's a piece of garbage. I digress.
Let me go back to this. Chuck in Westborough, Massachusetts: "Dan Rather and CBS can only do one thing to restore their credibility -- restate their commitment to honest, accurate, hard hitting news and then live up to those principles. It'll take time and lots of effort, but slowly public confidence will return as the memory of this episode fades. But what do I know? I watch CNN."
HEMMER: Gosh.
CAFFERTY: Well, we'll send you one of those cheap little cheesy cups, too.
HEMMER: We could send him out one of these, these thermos jugs here.
COLLINS: Oh, that looks good.
CAFFERTY: Yes.
COLLINS: It's all washed off.
CAFFERTY: Yes, the paint's come off.
HEMMER: It's been used a lot.
CAFFERTY: But the one they give away on that DAYBREAK, I mean you could get these -- they're, you go to the gas station and buy a quart of oil, they'll give you a case of 50 of these cups. That's how cheesy they are.
(CROSSTALK)
COLLINS: Are we selling them at gas stations now?
HEMMER: Don't sell yourself so short, my friend.
CAFFERTY: Huh?
HEMMER: Come on, these things are on eBay all the time. They're...
CAFFERTY: What things are on eBay?
HEMMER: And they've got your DNA all over them.
CAFFERTY: What things are on eBay?
HEMMER: These coffee cups.
CAFFERTY: Not mine.
HEMMER: I know it.
CAFFERTY: They don't have my DNA on them, because I don't use them.
COLLINS: You sound guilty for some reason about something.
CAFFERTY: But I mean they run this big contest on DAYBREAK and the prize is like a $0.03 cup.
COLLINS: Yes.
CAFFERTY: It's just, I mean it's just...
HEMMER: Clearly you haven't won, have you?
CAFFERTY: It's embarrassing. I'm glad I'm not on that program. This is a much higher class thing we do here.
COLLINS: He's just bitter because we don't have anything to give away.
HEMMER: Yes, all things aside.
COLLINS: All right.
HEMMER: (INAUDIBLE).
COLLINS: Jack, thank you for the cup angry.
Meanwhile, for centuries historians have debated the identity of Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa. Was she the artist's mother or maybe a prostitute in Florence, Italy?
Well, new research supports a claim first made almost 500 years ago that Mona Lisa was, indeed, real.
CNN's Alessio Vinci talked to the historian who says he's figured her out.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALESSIO VINCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): She is one of the world's most enduring symbols of feminine allure and there is even a famous song about her. Was she the creation of Leonardo's imagination or was he inspired by a real woman in the streets of 16th century Florence?
Looking for an answer, Giuseppe Palanti spent more than 25 years researching the city's archives. He came across land and marriage records written in the 1490s, which he says prove that Mona Lisa existed. "These documents prove without a doubt that Mona Lisa's husband was a client of Leonardo's father, who was a famous notary in Florence," he says. "And they also show how the families were closely connected and lived very close to each other. This is evidence, I believe, proving what historians wrote in the 16th century, that Mona Lisa was a real person."
Palanti took me to one of the places where Leonardo and Mona Lisa may have met, the Church of the Santissima Annunziata in the heart of Florence. Mona Lisa came to Sunday mass here and her husband is buried here in the family chapel. It is located next door to the convent where Leonardo was lodging when he began painting the famous portrait.
(on camera): Other historians have acknowledged Palanti's meticulous effort to establish Mona Lisa's identity. Yet they have also expressed some skepticism. While the documents show that Mona Lisa and Leonardo may have been acquainted, no records today can prove without a doubt that she also was his muse.
(voice-over): Palanti wrote a short book about his findings and agrees his study may only confirm the existence of Mona Lisa. But after half a millennium, he says, circumstantial evidence establishing a relationship is as close to reality researchers will ever get. And just like that famous song speculates about that mysterious smile, so will historians and romantics wonder for centuries to come. Alessio Vinci, CNN, Florence.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: Ah, the mystery.
HEMMER: Yes. What did Bob Dylan say? Mona Lisa must have had the highway blues. You can tell by the way she smiles.
COLLINS: I think that's exactly what he said.
HEMMER: Great line.
Let's get a break here.
In a moment, two friends, two massive storms, two homes now destroyed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BEVERLY PEZA (ph), HURRICANE VICTIM: It goes to show you old broads make it.
PATRICIA GREELEY (ph), HURRICANE VICTIM: Hey, speak for yourself.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: Oh, cute.
How a chance encounter brought two women together and how they've leaned on each other now to weather those storms.
Also, the Army reopening an investigation into prison abuse because of new information uncovered by a pair of reporters.
We'll get to all of it after the break here on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired September 28, 2004 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: John Kerry and George Bush preparing to go head to head on foreign policy issues. A new poll shows who voters trust most on Iraq.
The FBI hunting terrorists before the election. So why haven't agents reviewed scores of audiotapes associated with terrorism?
From gouging on repair bills to complex cons, what are the hurricane scams going on right now in Florida?
And who's behind that famous smile? Solving the mystery of the real Mona Lisa, right down to her first meeting with Leonardo da Vinci, on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ANNOUNCER: From the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Soledad O'Brien and Bill Hemmer.
COLLINS: Good morning, everybody.
I'm Heidi Collins in for Soledad.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Also this hour coming up, we'll talk with John Edwards' wife Elizabeth, standing by, in a few moments here. She's appearing today with a group called Military Moms with a Mission. We'll find out what that mission is in a moment.
COLLINS: Also, we saw how important early detection was for President Clinton's heart disease. So, should more men go out and ask their doctor for a stress test on their heart? Sanjay has the answer to that very important question.
HEMMER: Also, Jack Cafferty -- good morning.
What's coming up in the "File?"
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's probably not a bad idea.
COLLINS: No.
CAFFERTY: If you're over a certain age, I would guess.
Coming up in "The Cafferty File," the story of a 108-year-old man who has resumed a rather nasty habit that he gave up when he was 99. This is very cool.
And the walking barbell out in California says no to the state's children. That would be the Governator.
HEMMER: That's right.
CAFFERTY: The walking barbell.
COLLINS: Governator. Got it.
All right, Jack, we'll check back with you in the just a little bit.
Meantime, though, we want to check on the stores now in the news with Rick Sanchez once again -- good morning to you, Rick.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Good morning, Heidi.
Moscow police are holding two men in connection with the murder of a Russian journalists. Paul Klebnikov was the editor of the "Forbes Russia" magazine. He was also a critic of organized crime. Klebnikov was gunned down near his Moscow office in July. Police are now saying they're questioning two Chechens in connection with this killing. No further details are available at this hour.
Charges have been dropped against the man who helped convince U.S. officials to attack Iraq. Long time Iraqi exile Ahmad Chalabi has been a close ally of the Bush administration's, but has since fallen out of favor, since being discredited by charges and allegations of malfeasance. He was indicted in a counterfeiting case in August. However, an Iraqi judge yesterday dismissed those charges, citing a lack of evidence.
About two million customers are without power and the cleanup continues after hurricane Jeanne. That's number four to the State of Florida. Relief trucks with water and other necessities are trying to get to the hardest hit regions. At least six people were killed in the U.S. as the hurricane moved through Florida. Coming up in our weather update, we're going to tell you what areas now face what is left of what was hurricane Jeanne.
Barry Bonds may have done all the work, but two other guys are now fighting over the spoils. The man who came up with Bond's 700th home run ball is being sued by another man, claiming the ball was taken from him while they were struggling. Take a look at that. The man who has the ball says he found it at the bottom of the pile of these fans who were fighting for the balls. And after all, it's his. Those are, by the way, Heidi, those are grownups, by the way, in case you were wondering.
HEMMER: Adults to the core.
COLLINS: Yes. We were wondering just a little bit.
All right, Rick Sanchez, thanks so much.
SANCHEZ: All right.
COLLINS: Well, if you're counting, there are now only 35 days until the election. Senator John Kerry is in Wisconsin, where he held a town hall meeting yesterday. Kerry has no scheduled appearances today, as he prepares for Thursday's first presidential debate.
President Bush campaigned in Ohio yesterday before returning to his Crawford, Texas ranch to continue his debate preps. And according to the latest CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll, President Bush has an 8 point lead now over Senator Kerry among likely voters. The poll also finds an edge for Bush on the question of whether the two candidates have a clear plan for Iraq's future.
Well, our next guests have definite opinions on Senator Kerry's plan for Iraq. They are Elizabeth Edwards, wife of vice presidential candidate John Edwards, and Maura Satchell, whose older son is a Marine who fought in Iraq at the beginning of the war and whose younger son is about to complete boot camp. Satchell is a Kerry supporter and a member of the group Military Moms with a Mission.
We see some other moms in the background there. They are all joining us live from Westover, West Virginia.
Ladies, thanks so much for being with us here on AMERICAN MORNING.
MAURA SATCHELL, "MILITARY MOMS WITH A MISSION": It's great to be with you.
ELIZABETH EDWARDS, WIFE OF JOHN EDWARDS: It's great to be here.
Thank you.
COLLINS: Mrs. Edwards, I would like to start with you.
As we just reported the numbers now that we're looking at for President Bush, holding a very strong lead over Senator John Kerry.
What do John Kerry and your husband, John Edwards, need to do to turn those numbers around?
EDWARDS: I think those numbers are not a concern because the American public has not really had a chance to see how these two men stand on various issues. We've been doing that in small formats across the country, even in larger rallies. But the American people as a whole will get a real idea of where these men stand in these debates. They'll get to see the details of John Kerry's thoughtful plan to -- with respect to Iraq, to bring our boys home and provide the stability in that country and at home, to work to create jobs, to address our health care crisis, which has not received any attention whatsoever in the last four years, and to help us on education and the environment and other issues.
These, all these issues will be discussed in the debates. The American people will have a firm idea about where these candidates stand. They can judge the men on their performance, on their programs, on their principles and their values. I feel very confident about the result when that discussion is over. COLLINS: Though we have seen sort of a shift, if you will, over the past couple of weeks with Senator Kerry's main message in that being Iraq.
So let's look at something else here which will tie into the Military Moms, for you guys this morning.
We have another poll that's basically focusing on the commander- in-chief and what people think about President Bush versus John Kerry in that role. You see the numbers there. Sixty-seven percent of those polled think Bush would make a good commander-in-chief. Only 49 percent feel that way about Mr. Kerry.
Is the majority here wrong, Mrs. Edwards?
EDWARDS: I think that the people you need to ask about who would make a good commander-in-chief are the people who are serving under and people who have served, people who are getting the consequences of his policies as commander-in-chief.
I think if you assume that you've got the nameless Republican candidate as running for office as a candidate, you would make an assumption that he would be pro-military. What you've seen from this president, though, is he has made choice after choice as commander-in- chief -- he's not that nameless candidate. He's George Bush with a record, a record of sending our men, these, the sons and husbands of these brave women here, into combat without the gear that they needed.
He's not taken the diplomatic steps that needed to make certain that they needed to go into battle. After they come back from battle, he has -- he's not stood beside them at the V.A. hospitals. He did something that I think is absolutely inexcusable. My dad was 25 years in the Navy. While these men were in theater, while they were in Iraq and while they were in Afghanistan, he actually tried to reduce their hazardous duty pay, now called imminent danger pay, while they were in theater. That is not the sign of a commander-in-chief who understands the sacrifices that those men and women make and that the families make who stand behind them and stand behind me right now.
COLLINS: And of course -- yes, pardon the interruption.
Mrs. Satchell, I'd like to get to you if I could there.
EDWARDS: Right.
COLLINS: There are those who would also say well, Senator John Kerry first voted to go to war and then voted against the funding in order to get the money to the troops for the things that they need. There are people who would say that, too, a very big mistake, if you're going to be commander-in-chief.
Your thoughts on that? You have quite a military family. Your perspective very interesting to us.
SATCHELL: Thank you. Initially, John Kerry, in his statement before the floor of the Senate, I think, said that he was authorizing President Bush to go to the United Nations to bring in those other diplomatic tools to work on disarming Iraq without going in there willy-nilly, if you will, unprepared, as we did go in. Unfortunately, again, you know, troops had to go in there without any -- a lot of their equipment necessary. Helmets that went in there were not up to the specifications that would stop AK-47 bullets. It's very sad what has happened there.
And regarding the $87 billion, I'm not quite the policy person to be able to talk to that, but I do know that everybody, it was a consensus in the whole Senate that they were going to get that entire $67 billion that was going for the Iraq, for the troops. And unfortunately the Republicans, with their political diversionary tactics, wanted to push things through in a different way.
Of course, they would have gotten that. But I really can't speak to that.
COLLINS: Mrs. Satchell, then tell me what you and the other military moms are hoping to accomplish. You're called Military Moms with a Mission.
What is that mission now?
SATCHELL: That's right.
Well, we're all pretty bright women, I should say. We've got one woman that's a wife, actually, of a military gentleman and she's going up for her doctorate in sociology, writing a paper right now on military families. That's her thesis. And she can speak about the situation on bases in the military, where bases are being closed and, you know, WIC there are Women, Infant and Children stands, ethnic commissaries in these things. And four years ago, Vice President Cheney, in his debate, said we're with you, military. We're going to be there for you. We're going to pull you out of this.
And you'd think Republicans would do that. But believe it or not, they have not done that this time. And it's unbelievable.
COLLINS: All right, to the two of you and to the ladies standing behind you, we certainly appreciate your time.
Elizabeth Edwards and Maura Satchell, once again, thanks so much, ladies, to you all.
The debate between President Bush and Senator Kerry is set for Thursday night in Miami. And CNN's live coverage will begin at 9:00 p.m. Eastern.
And watch AMERICAN MORNING as we prepare for the first presidential debate. We'll have live coverage from Miami on Thursday morning.
HEMMER: Nine minutes past the hour.
We're watching Jeanne, now a tropical depression, causing a lot of headaches up and down the East Coast.
Back to Rob, working for Chad today -- and good morning, Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Bill.
Rainfall a big headache, yes. And tornadoes. We had 17 reports of tornadoes touching down during the day yesterday. And rainfall amounts over the last 42 hours fairly impressive. And they strike not only from Florida, but through Georgia, as well.
Valdosta, 5.38 inches; Macon, Georgia, 5.30; and Gainesville, Florida, 4.73; just to name a few.
Here's where that rain shield is heading, across the Carolinas, Virginia and eventually into the major metropolitan areas. The red boxes that are familiar to you at this point indicate tornado watches. Right now there's not one, but it might be reissued later on today. A fairly impressive line that's moving through North Carolina at the moment.
Here's the northern end of that rain shield heading into upstate New York, Binghamton and across the New York Thruway, up through Hartford, eventually into Boston. Some of the rain could be heavy at times and we're already seeing travel delays across the New York City area airports and Philadelphia is seeing a lot of fog at the moment.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COLLINS: OK, Rob, thanks a lot.
American gymnast Paul Hamm is still defending the gold medal he won in Athens. An international court of arbitration is looking at the case because of a South Korean gymnast's complaint that the medal should have been his, but for scoring mistakes.
Paul Hamm and his lawyer Kelly Crabb are joining us now from Switzerland this morning.
Paul, nice to see you again.
The last time we spoke, we were talking about whether or not you thought you should keep this medal and now we've progressed this far to a hearing that happened yesterday.
How do you think it went?
PAUL HAMM, U.S. GOLD OLYMPIC COMMITTEE MEDALIST: It was definitely a fair hearing. Everyone got their chance to say what they needed to. You know, we definitely got to say our facts and get everyone's answers out. And I think it went pretty well.
COLLINS: Are you going to return that gold medal if the court decides that CAS, as we call it, decides that you should?
HAMM: Yes. If the court decides under the rules of gymnastics that I should give the medal back, I will. COLLINS: So how does that make you feel? I mean I would imagine you'd be pretty nervous about that after all of the work and all of the discussion and the controversy, if you will.
How does that make you feel knowing that that could happen?
HAMM: It is definitely an uncomfortable situation to be put in. But you know, the answer is not going to be out maybe possibly two weeks, maybe sooner. So, you know, I'll just try and forget about it until then, go back home. And I'm going to be going back on the Rock and Roll Gymnastics Tour. I have three more stops. And just try and forget about it until the answer comes out.
COLLINS: All right. Are you going to have to be testifying or will you be going before this hearing to tell your side of the story or will your attorney be handling that or will the Gymnastics Federation be telling the story? How much will you have to speak to your own defense?
HAMM: We've already had the hearing. It happened yesterday. It was about 12 hours. The hearing has already taken place. And today I have one more day in Switzerland. I'm in a really beautiful hotel here and I'm just going to enjoy it. And I leave tomorrow to go back to the U.S.
COLLINS: All right, Paul Hamm, we certainly appreciate your time this morning.
Once again, I know you're joined by your lawyer there, Kelly Crabb.
You guys, we appreciate it.
And I guess a couple more weeks until a decision will be made. And we will wait to get that decision.
HAMM: Thank you.
COLLINS: Good luck to everybody over there.
Thanks, Paul.
HEMMER: Twelve minutes past the hour.
A break.
Here in a moment, the FBI under fire. Why thousands of hours of audiotapes of suspected terrorists have gone without a review or translation. A good with. We'll have a look at that in a moment here.
COLLINS: Also, treadmill tests can be a good indicator of a man's heart health, but they may not be right for everybody. We're "Paging Dr. Gupta."
HEMMER: Also, recovering from a hurricane is hard enough without having to avoid the scams, as well. Some advice on what people need to look out for ahead this hour on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Fifteen minutes past the hour now.
The FBI is under criticism this morning after hundreds of thousands of hours of untranslated audio recordings were discovered. The talk may have been linked to terror plans.
Representative Christopher Cox with us today to talk about this.
He's the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee.
And good morning.
Welcome back here to AMERICAN MORNING.
REP. CHRISTOPHER COX (R), CALIFORNIA: Good morning.
Happy to be with you.
HEMMER: The number of hours just staggering, 123,000 hours without translation going back to 9/11; 370,000 hours of counterintelligence. The numbers, the hours, does this surprise you as much as it surprises us?
COX: Well, it is very, very disheartening. It is not a surprise. I've been following this problem for some time. In fact, before I came to the Congress in the private sector, I had a Russian translation business. I am intensely interested in this.
I saw these same problems when I chaired a select committee on national security in the late 1990s.
The FBI, to its credit, has been building a capacity as rapidly as it can. They're up to over 1,200 translators right now. But it isn't enough. The I.G.'s report focused on signals intelligence, voice not text intercepts. And this is the bigger part of the problem.
HEMMER: What would you say to families of victims who lost their loved ones back on 9/11? Because the impression is these tapes have just been laying around.
COX: Well, nothing has actually been laying around unaccounted for. It's really a question of matching the resources, the human and technical resources to translate with the enormous volume of material that must be translated. Of course, the 9/11 Commission has made a recommendation on this subject that Congress is moving forward with on a very, very fast track. In fact, we'll have legislation up this week and next in the Senate and in the House to deal with it directly.
The national intelligence director is going to have budget authority that will permit him to move money around and put much more in the way of resources behind this problem than has been the case in the past. HEMMER: Just take it a step further. Specifically, the new legislation does what? Now, you mentioned the linguists and the funding for the linguists having tripled since 9/11.
What does this bill do, then?
COX: Well, the opportunity that the national intelligence director will have to put money where it's most needed, to have that budget execution authority that we've all been talking about, is vitally important because when these problems are identified, we can move on them fast. We won't have to wait for years while Congress debates legislation and creates new programs.
HEMMER: But does that mean...
COX: We've also not established here in any way...
HEMMER: I apologize for the interruption. I'm just trying to cut through it here.
COX: Sure.
HEMMER: Does that mean, then, the hundreds of thousands of hours will be translated and you won't have a backlog like this again?
COX: Well, of course, we want to work off that backlog. But another problem that the I.G. identified is that as a matter of routine, the technology that was being employed deleted, in many cases, old material after a time certain. That cannot continue. You don't know what you're losing.
HEMMER: We're about 35 days away from a national election here.
Is there any specific threat that's been leveled against this country that you can speak of as we get closer to those national elections?
COX: Well, as you know, there's a constant daily, today included, focus on what terrorists are doing, what suspected terrorists are saying to each other and so on. When you piece all this together, it amounts to a very serious potential threat against our country throughout this election period into January and we're ready for it.
HEMMER: Christopher Cox, representative from California, live from Capitol Hill.
Thanks for your time.
COX: Happy to join you.
HEMMER: All right -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Still to come now this morning, who was the real Mona Lisa? One expert thinks we may now know.
Stay with us on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Jack's here once again with the Question of the Day.
CAFFERTY: Thank you, ma'am.
CBS News suffering a blow to its credibility, the result of "Rathergate." According to the latest CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll, 55 percent of those questioned said they still have confidence in CBS News' ability to report stories accurately. But 41 percent said they don't. And 26 percent of those questioned, one in four, think Dan Rather should be fired.
Here's the question. How can CBS News restore confidence following the Rather scandal?
Bill in Montana: "What CBS needs to do to restore confidence is find the real Bush documents that say the same thing. We all know they're out there."
Doug in Oneonta, New York: "Dan Rather has been showing his bias for the past several years, so this latest debacle is nothing new. He should resign, as well as his peers from NBC and ABC. The news slant is so blatant that our family almost never watches any of the major networks' news shows any longer.
Eve in Watsonville, California: "CBS can restore -- cannot restore my confidence. Dan Rather's political ideology has been evident long before this and they let him continue. I'll watch CNN when I want news."
HEMMER: Oh, my.
CAFFERTY: We'll be sending you something in the mail for that.
COLLINS: A coffee cup.
CAFFERTY: Chuck in -- yes, one of those cheesy, cheap coffee cups they give away on that show that precedes us that cost about $0.08 apiece and people line up to -- would you send me a cup? I mean it's a piece of garbage. I digress.
Let me go back to this. Chuck in Westborough, Massachusetts: "Dan Rather and CBS can only do one thing to restore their credibility -- restate their commitment to honest, accurate, hard hitting news and then live up to those principles. It'll take time and lots of effort, but slowly public confidence will return as the memory of this episode fades. But what do I know? I watch CNN."
HEMMER: Gosh.
CAFFERTY: Well, we'll send you one of those cheap little cheesy cups, too.
HEMMER: We could send him out one of these, these thermos jugs here.
COLLINS: Oh, that looks good.
CAFFERTY: Yes.
COLLINS: It's all washed off.
CAFFERTY: Yes, the paint's come off.
HEMMER: It's been used a lot.
CAFFERTY: But the one they give away on that DAYBREAK, I mean you could get these -- they're, you go to the gas station and buy a quart of oil, they'll give you a case of 50 of these cups. That's how cheesy they are.
(CROSSTALK)
COLLINS: Are we selling them at gas stations now?
HEMMER: Don't sell yourself so short, my friend.
CAFFERTY: Huh?
HEMMER: Come on, these things are on eBay all the time. They're...
CAFFERTY: What things are on eBay?
HEMMER: And they've got your DNA all over them.
CAFFERTY: What things are on eBay?
HEMMER: These coffee cups.
CAFFERTY: Not mine.
HEMMER: I know it.
CAFFERTY: They don't have my DNA on them, because I don't use them.
COLLINS: You sound guilty for some reason about something.
CAFFERTY: But I mean they run this big contest on DAYBREAK and the prize is like a $0.03 cup.
COLLINS: Yes.
CAFFERTY: It's just, I mean it's just...
HEMMER: Clearly you haven't won, have you?
CAFFERTY: It's embarrassing. I'm glad I'm not on that program. This is a much higher class thing we do here.
COLLINS: He's just bitter because we don't have anything to give away.
HEMMER: Yes, all things aside.
COLLINS: All right.
HEMMER: (INAUDIBLE).
COLLINS: Jack, thank you for the cup angry.
Meanwhile, for centuries historians have debated the identity of Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa. Was she the artist's mother or maybe a prostitute in Florence, Italy?
Well, new research supports a claim first made almost 500 years ago that Mona Lisa was, indeed, real.
CNN's Alessio Vinci talked to the historian who says he's figured her out.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALESSIO VINCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): She is one of the world's most enduring symbols of feminine allure and there is even a famous song about her. Was she the creation of Leonardo's imagination or was he inspired by a real woman in the streets of 16th century Florence?
Looking for an answer, Giuseppe Palanti spent more than 25 years researching the city's archives. He came across land and marriage records written in the 1490s, which he says prove that Mona Lisa existed. "These documents prove without a doubt that Mona Lisa's husband was a client of Leonardo's father, who was a famous notary in Florence," he says. "And they also show how the families were closely connected and lived very close to each other. This is evidence, I believe, proving what historians wrote in the 16th century, that Mona Lisa was a real person."
Palanti took me to one of the places where Leonardo and Mona Lisa may have met, the Church of the Santissima Annunziata in the heart of Florence. Mona Lisa came to Sunday mass here and her husband is buried here in the family chapel. It is located next door to the convent where Leonardo was lodging when he began painting the famous portrait.
(on camera): Other historians have acknowledged Palanti's meticulous effort to establish Mona Lisa's identity. Yet they have also expressed some skepticism. While the documents show that Mona Lisa and Leonardo may have been acquainted, no records today can prove without a doubt that she also was his muse.
(voice-over): Palanti wrote a short book about his findings and agrees his study may only confirm the existence of Mona Lisa. But after half a millennium, he says, circumstantial evidence establishing a relationship is as close to reality researchers will ever get. And just like that famous song speculates about that mysterious smile, so will historians and romantics wonder for centuries to come. Alessio Vinci, CNN, Florence.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: Ah, the mystery.
HEMMER: Yes. What did Bob Dylan say? Mona Lisa must have had the highway blues. You can tell by the way she smiles.
COLLINS: I think that's exactly what he said.
HEMMER: Great line.
Let's get a break here.
In a moment, two friends, two massive storms, two homes now destroyed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BEVERLY PEZA (ph), HURRICANE VICTIM: It goes to show you old broads make it.
PATRICIA GREELEY (ph), HURRICANE VICTIM: Hey, speak for yourself.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: Oh, cute.
How a chance encounter brought two women together and how they've leaned on each other now to weather those storms.
Also, the Army reopening an investigation into prison abuse because of new information uncovered by a pair of reporters.
We'll get to all of it after the break here on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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