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American Morning
Both Candidates Spending Final Campaign Weekend Crisscrossing Swing States; Settlement in Bill O'Reilly's Sexual Harassment Case
Aired October 29, 2004 - 07:00 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.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Bruce Springsteen helping John Kerry draw huge crowds, an estimated 80,000 at one rally alone.
Well, the guy that just won a world series, Curt Schilling, bringing more star power to the president's campaign today.
Yasser Arafat this morning getting medical treatment and leaving the West Bank for the first time in three years.
And both sides in the nasty suit/countersuit involving Fox anchor Bill O'Reilly now say there was no wrongdoing, all ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ANNOUNCER: From the CNN Broadcast center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING, with Soledad O'Brien and Bill Hemmer.
O'BRIEN: Good morning. Welcome, everybody. Just four days to go now. The question of missing explosives in Iraq a dominant theme on the campaign trail. We're going to have videotape this morning at U.S. troops at that Al Qa Qaa facility in Iraq.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, this could be a big one today again today. We'll show you the story in a moment, coming up here.
Also in a moment, talk to a former weapons inspector David Kay about when the compound, when the photos were taken, when the compound was searched, et cetera. We'll get his thoughts in a moment here.
Also if you're dreading the possibility of legal challenges on Tuesday, what signs can you look for on election night to know in one is coming? Good question. Jeff Toobin is looking into it. We'll talk to Jeff in a few moments.
O'BRIEN: Mr. Cafferty, good morning.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning.
Yasser Arafat was flown to France? Am I the only one who finds that interesting that Arafat would be in France getting medical treatment?
Anyway, the school officials around the country, some of them, have found something to do besides worry about how to keep kids from dropping out, raising the test scores. They're focusing on canceling the kids' Halloween parties this year. And here in New York, it's not going down so well and in other places around the country as well. The Grinch has found its way into the Halloween situation.
Wouldn't they have other things to do? I mean, the schools are not in that great of shape.
O'BRIEN: Why cancel Halloween?
CAFFERTY: Well, that's part of the story. We're going to do it in a few minutes. I have to go look that part up.
O'BRIEN: All right, Jack. Thanks.
Let's look at what's in the news this morning. Heidi Collins at the news desk.
Good morning to you.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: A NASA test pilot. That's what Riley's going to be. He's going to wear that costume too.
O'BRIEN: Even if they cancel it in school.
COLLINS: Right, wear it around the house.
Good morning to you guys. And good morning to you, everyone.
Now in the news this morning, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is expected to land in Paris within the hour. Arafat left his compound and arrived in Jordan around 3:30 a.m. Eastern. One of his doctors says Arafat is suffering from a blood platelet deficiency. He'll undergo additional testing in a French military hospital later on today.
A new tape possibly from Al Qaeda has surfaced, but officials say there are real questions about its authenticity. The tape shows a man who calls himself "Asam, the American," threatening terror attacks at, quote, "any moment." The message is delivered in English. The CIA has not been able to verify the tape, and portions of it aired late Thursday on ABC News.
President Bush getting a boost from some families and friends of those who perished in the September 11th attacks. The group, called 9/11 Families for a Safe and Strong America, issued an open letter yesterday urging Americans to re-elect the president.
Senator John Kerry has been endorsed by other families, including a group of 9/11 widows called The Jersey Girls.
It took two weeks for Bill O'Reilly and his former producer to set their lawsuits. Andrea Mackris and the Fox News Channel anchor dropped all allegations against each other yesterday. Mackris accused O'Reilly of making sexually explicit phone calls, while the talk show host claimed she had tried to extort $60 million in hush money. More details on this story coming up in just a few minutes, all over the front papers.
HEMMER: We're going to get to the election right. That's where we start this morning again. The race to the finish line on and going now. Four days until Americans choose a president. Both candidates spending the final campaign weekend crisscrossing the swing states that will ultimately decide who wins the White House in 2004.
White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux with the Bush team in Manchester, New Hampshire this morning. And national correspondent Kelly Wallace with the Kerry team in Orlando, Florida.
Let's start in New Hampshire there with Suzanne.
Good morning.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Bill.
Bush aides tell us that he begins his day in Manchester with a personal message to voters that the president will talk about the kind of challenges both he and the country have faced over the last four years. It was just last night that President Bush returned to the White House. He was asked how he thought the campaign was going. He responded saying, "It's feeling good out there." Now the two issues, of course, that have dominated in the past week have been issues of leadership and security. These are issues that the campaign says are the president's strengths.
But at the same time, of course, they acknowledge that he has been dogged by bad news stories throughout the week. The missing explosives in Iraq that Kerry has blamed on the administration, the news that came out yesterday of an FBI investigation of the Pentagon, whether it was Halliburton that improperly awarded no-bid contracts for its work in Iraq. That company once headed by Cheney. And also news, of course, evidence of a doctored political ad, the closing ad "whatever it takes," that shows pictures of soldiers listening to Mr. Bush speak that were duplicated to fill the audience. The Bush camp acknowledging the edit. They said they did not mean to deceive, and that it has since been fixed.
But as President Bush's top political adviser, Karl Rove, told me earlier in the week, he says this is a race that's going to be determined by character, not by these reactions to some of these news stories, acknowledging some of those news stories were not, in fact, good.
Should let you know as well there is no camp that is beyond using a little bit of star power to actually give a little boost to their candidate. Today, beginning this day, we are going to see Curt Schilling. Of course, he is the World Series pitcher for the Boston Red Sox. He's going to be introducing the president here. And then later today in Ohio, none other than perhaps the Republican's biggest rock star, that is California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger who will appear with the president in Columbus -- Bill.
HEMMER: Suzanne Malveaux in New Hampshire, thanks for that.
I want to get to Kelly Wallace now in Orlando.
Good morning, Kelly. KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill.
Senator Kerry spending the entire day here in Florida, the state with the biggest number of electoral votes up for grabs of all the battlegrounds. Aides say here he's going to try and put together all the arguments he's been making for change, trying to convince those undecided voters who, despite all they have heard, still aren't behind him.
Yesterday it was all about getting the big crowds to energize and excite Democrats. And for that, the senator got some bigtime help from The Boss, Bruce Springsteen. Tens of thousands turning out, first in Madison, Wisconsin, later at the campus of Ohio State. This is the first time Bruce Springsteen is endorsing a presidential candidate, and he delighted the crowds with his version of "No Surrender," Senator Kerry's campaign theme song.
As for the senator, he was fired up by Bruce, by the Boston Red Sox, and he pounds for the fourth day in a row about those missing explosives in Iraq, keeping the story alive for yet another day.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Mr. President, here are the facts that every American can understand, it seems, except for you. The bottom line about these weapons that have disappeared, here's the bottom line: They're not where they're supposed to be. You were warned to guard them. You didn't guard them. They're not secure.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALLACE: And a senior Kerry adviser telling reporters the campaign believes the issue is working for Senator Kerry in that it, quote, "crystallizes the choice" between President Bush and going with Senator Kerry. This adviser also saying the campaign feels it has what you want to have in these final days, and that is momentum. The campaign saying that the news headlines have been going against the White House.
Advisers also like what they're seeing when it comes to the number of Democrats turning out to vote early. Still though, Bill, there is some pause. They would like to see the polls swinging significantly with John Kerry ahead of President Bush. They haven't seen that yet. So still some caution on the part of Kerry advisers -- Bill.
HEMMER: All right, Kelly, thanks for that.
As we mentioned, four days and counting now. On Election Day, CNN's team will be here in New York City. We'll be live from the Nasdaq marketsite in the heart of Times Square. Should be a great night of coverage. Our primetime coverage starts Tuesday evening at 7:00 Eastern Time.
Now, Soledad. O'BRIEN: Well, the Pentagon has been suggesting that missing explosives in Iraq may have been moved before U.S. troops got there in April of 2003. New footage from an American television station whose reporter was embedded with troops that went to that site now cast doubt on that theory.
More now from our senior Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Pentagon's argument that the stockpile of powerful HMX explosive was likely long gone from the al Qa Qaa facility when U.S. troops arrived in April of 2003 was seriously undercut by this video shot by Minneapolis television station KSTP.
Reporter Dean Staley was embedded with soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division when they entered a locked bunker at the al Qa Qaa facility on April 18, 2003, nearly a month into the war but to get in, they cut what now appears to be an International Atomic Energy Agency seal.
DEAN STALEY, FMR. KSTP-TV REPORTER: We thought it might have been some sort of bobby trap because it was such a thin wire but we broke the lock and broke that wire to get in.
MCINTYRE: That IAEA seal, arms experts tell CNN, is the strongest evidence yet that at least some of the missing explosives were inside because HMX was the only material placed under seal at al Qa Qaa and the reporter says the troops he was with were on an unofficial mission just looking around. They were not searching for or securing any material. There was, he said, nothing to stop anyone from looting.
STALEY: And some of the bunkers weren't even locked. I mean we had to break a couple of padlocks to get into some of them, others we did not. They were wide open. We also saw Iraqis at the time driving around in a pickup truck, an old beat-up pickup truck clearly scavenging, I mean, clearly sort of looking around. We kept an eye on them because this was sort of no man's land.
MCINTYRE: The revelation came on a day when the Pentagon released this satellite photograph taken on March 17, 2003, a few days before the war began and after the last inspection by the IAEA. It shows a truck and heavy equipment transporter outside one bunker.
But the Pentagon admits the photo is inconclusive, showing only there was activity at the site and not that any of the explosives were moved. Still, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in a series of radio interviews repeated the Pentagon's contention that it's unlikely the stockpile could have been looted after the U.S. got there.
DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: We had total control of the air. We would have seen anything like that and so the idea that it was suddenly looted and moved out, all of these tons of equipment, is I think at least debatable and it's very likely that just as the United States would do that Saddam Hussein moved munitions when he knew the war was coming.
MCINTRYE (on camera): The Pentagon says the video is just another piece in the puzzle. As it tries to reconstruct what happened to what the IAEA now says is more than 360 tons -- not 380 tons -- of missing high explosives. Still, unclear is whether any was stolen or successfully destroyed by U.S. troops.
Jamie McIntyre, CNN, the Pentagon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: Here now to share his insights into what this new videotape says about these weapons and explosives is David Kay. He's the former chief U.N. weapons inspector, and he's Live in Washington D.C. this morning.
Hi, David. Nice to see you again. Thanks for being with us.
DAVID KAY, FMR. CHIEF U.N. WEAPONS INSPECTOR: Good to see you, Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Thank you. You've seen the videotape. You've seen the seal. You've seen the barrels. In your mind, does this close the debate on the timing for you, under whose jurisdiction this material was when it went missing?
KAY: Well, it closes the timing with regard to this one bunker. I'm absolutely confident that was an IAEA seal. I've never seen an Iraqi seal,; I've never seen anything that looked like that. The only thing that looks like that are the seals we place in the IAEA there. I'm also convinced that that's HMX. That's the way it was stored. There was three suppliers. One uniquely shipped it in barrels with sacks inside. That's HMX.
O'BRIEN: Secretary Rumsfeld, though, you heard him say, it was unlikely it was looted after the Americans got there. Could it be easily moved? Is it unlikely that massive -- 300 tons of this stuff could be moved by looters?
KAY: Well, with all due respect to the secretary, looters don't come in convoys. They're more like ants in your kitchen. They're every place, and they move relatively individually, relatively small amounts. The total is huge. I've been on at least 15 sites while looting was going on in Iraq, and they take down buildings, they move heavy equipment. It's amazing what they can move.
Now looting, obviously, occurred at that site. We observed it after the fact. I'm afraid that is the explanation.
O'BRIEN: Why would the IAEA seal it with a little wire, I mean, if it's dangerous and can be used as a trigger for a nuclear weapon, why not destroy it and remove it?
KAY: Well, that's a good question. It goes back to a dispute in the mid '90s, a large number of us inspectors thought in fact it should have been destroyed. Of all people, Hans Blix made the decision to give in to the Iraqi demand that it be kept in Iraq for potential use in civil construction projects.
The reason you seal it like that is the seal doesn't keep you from getting in. It shows that someone has tampered and breached it. When Iraq was in the -- the Saddam government was in power, that was there to show you if in fact the Iraqis breached the seal. It's not designed to keep you out.
O'BRIEN: There have been a couple of arguments about this. One is from the administration, that what's missing, what's gone missing, whatever the circumstances, is a drop in the bucket, it's a one-tenth of 1 percent, I think is the numbers that they're showing. What do you make of that argument?
KAY: Well, I think they're absolutely right. Look, to maintain perspective, Iraq had roughly two-thirds of the entire conventional armament that the U.S. military has; 360 or 380 tons is insignificant but it is indicative of what occurred across the country. U.S. military personnel in Iraq every day are being killed by weapons that they didn't bring into Iraq from abroad. They stole from Iraqi arms dumps that were not guarded. And in this film, you see what I think is most disturbing about this film, is military tourism within a war zone. If you open up a bunker -- I don't know what the Pottery Barn says about that rule -- but I can tell new a war zone, if you open up a bunker, you're responsible for guarding it. You don't go out and casually open them up, look at what's there and then be leave them, particularly when you don't have control of the site.
O'BRIEN: And does that lead you -- and we don't have a lot of time -- to think that the soldiers didn't necessarily know what they were looking at?
KAY: Oh, I'm sure they didn't know it was HMX. You really have to be a specialist to identify it. For someone like myself looking at it, you can say that's HMX. I saw it first in 1991 actually in that form. No, I think they knew it was explosives. I don't think they knew HMX. It doesn't matter what form the explosive is. If you open up the bunker, you own it, you have to control it.
O'BRIEN: David Kay is a former chief U.N. weapons inspector. Nice to see you, sir. Thanks.
KAY: Good to see you, Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Thank you.
(WEATHER REPORT)
O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, could Halliburton haunt the Bush/Cheney ticket. The FBI opens up an investigation into the vice president's former company.
HEMMER: Also in a moment, how close does the election have to be before the lawyers take over? Why some say you should expect a sequel to the mess of 2000. We'll talk about that.
O'BRIEN: And the Bill O'Reilly sexual harassment case now over. We're going to explain what it means for the talk show host and his accuser, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: What began as a stunning case of she said/he said has ended now with both sides saying nevermind.
CNN's Adaora Udoji this morning reports on a settlement now on Bill O'Reilly's sexual harassment case.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ADAORA UDOJI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Bill O'Reilly talked about the settlement at the top of his show.
BILL O'REILLY, FOX NEWS HOST: You guys looked out for me, and I will never forget it. This brutal ordeal is now officially over, and I will never speak of it again.
UDOJI: He didn't discuss the terms. It does mean his associate producer, Andrea Mackris, will stop making sexual harassment accusations against him, and he'll stop accusing her of launching a politically motivated plot to extort $60 million. Despite the bitter charges, O'Reilly's lawyers now say, quote, "all parties have agreed there was no wrongdoing whatsoever by anyone."
Mackris was also pleased.
ANDREA MACKRIS, ACCUSED O'REILLY OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT: It's over, and I'm happy.
Are you satisfied with the terms of the settlement?
MACKRIS: I can't say anything else. But I do appreciate everybody. Thank you.
UDOJI: Court TV anchor and attorney Lisa Bloom.
LISA BLOOM, COURT TV: There are still unanswered questions. And of course the biggest one is, what is the dollar amount of the settlement and who paid it? Was it Bill O'Reilly individually? Fox News? News Corp.? We'll probably never know the answer to that.
UDOJI: But the public's not likely to get any answers. The parties have agreed to keep all the details confidential.
Adaora Udoji, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: Also in another story here, federal agents say they've broken up a multimillion dollar identity theft ring. Authorities say 19 people indicted yesterday for their roles in operating a Web site that acted as a one-stop shopping trip for stolen credit cards, drivers licenses, Social Security cards and passports. The international operation responsible for 1.7 million stolen credit cards and $4 million in losses now broken up -- Soledad. O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, oil prices keep going down. And Andy says it's good news if you have money in the market. He's "Minding Your Business" this morning, and we're back in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Scrutiny of Halliburton heats up while oil prices cool down. With a look at that and a market preview, Andy Serwer is "Minding Your Business."
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Good morning to you, Soledad.
This Halliburton thing is so confusing and complicated.
It is. It's a little bit murky. The bottom line here is the controversy surrounding Halliburton, the oil services giant, headed by Dick Cheney before he was vice president, just won't go away. The latest news is the FBI now wants to interview a whistle-blower who worked for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Vunatine Greenhouse (ph), who has complained the Army gave preferential treatment for the $7 billion no-bid contract it granted to Halliburton. Now, no-bid contracts makes sense when there is only one company that can do the job. There is controversy over whether in fact Halliburton was the only company that could do the work in Iraq.
And of course, now there are allegations that these charges are politically motivated and back and forth we go. There are new details emerging this morning, and we will be following this story as it unfolds.
SERWER: Let's talk about oil, though, because here is some good news for investors and good news for Americans driving cars this morning as well. You can see the price of oil has been plummeting over the past three days, up from a high of $55.17 on October 22nd, now down below $51 in trading this morning. No coincidence that the stock market has taken off during that time period. We're up again yesterday, two points on the Dow, and that has everything to do with the price of oil -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: All right, Andy, thanks.
SERWER: You're welcome.
O'BRIEN: Back to Jack now and the Question of the Day.
CAFFERTY: Thank you, Bill.
Friday before Halloween, apparently all is well with the New York public school system, because the people at the Board of Education have nothing better to do than put out a memo this year prohibiting Halloween parties in the schools. You know, it's traditional, the Friday before, the kids dress up, they have their little trick or treat. No, no more. Can't wear costumes, can't have parties. Apparently the test score problems's been solved, the dropout problems have been solved, no more weapons or drugs in the schools -- only Halloween, this is the only issue left for the New York Board of Education to get their shorts in a knot over. So they've ruined Halloween for all these kids in the city.
Some of the principals are choosing to look the other way, but they claim it's for safety reasons. I mean, what about the other 364 days of year when you walk into these schools, you've got to go through a metal -- I mean, this is just nonsense. And it's not just New York; it's happening in other places around the country. The question is whether or not school officials ought to be banning Halloween parties and it's Friday, and you can write about anything else you want. But, I mean, for the school board in this city to occupy themselves with something as harmless and benign as Halloween parties, when they got more problems here than they have in most third world countries in the public schools, is just preposterous.
SERWER: What do trick or treaters get when they come to your house, the Cafferty house? That's what I think all viewers want to know this morning.
CAFFERTY: Why don't you drop by on Halloween and I'll show you, Andy. Yes, stop on by, ring the bell and you'll find out.
SERWER: Ding dong.
HEMMER: And run like hell!
CAFFERTY: Yes, ding dong, Serwer calling.
O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, TGIF. Jumpstart your weekend with some "90-Second Pop."
CAFFERTY: Pretty soon.
O'BRIEN: We're talking about Jamie Fox, who's got a new movie, and also, more on the Nicole Kidman movie "Debacle." That's ahead on "90-Second Pop." We're back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired October 29, 2004 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Bruce Springsteen helping John Kerry draw huge crowds, an estimated 80,000 at one rally alone.
Well, the guy that just won a world series, Curt Schilling, bringing more star power to the president's campaign today.
Yasser Arafat this morning getting medical treatment and leaving the West Bank for the first time in three years.
And both sides in the nasty suit/countersuit involving Fox anchor Bill O'Reilly now say there was no wrongdoing, all ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ANNOUNCER: From the CNN Broadcast center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING, with Soledad O'Brien and Bill Hemmer.
O'BRIEN: Good morning. Welcome, everybody. Just four days to go now. The question of missing explosives in Iraq a dominant theme on the campaign trail. We're going to have videotape this morning at U.S. troops at that Al Qa Qaa facility in Iraq.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, this could be a big one today again today. We'll show you the story in a moment, coming up here.
Also in a moment, talk to a former weapons inspector David Kay about when the compound, when the photos were taken, when the compound was searched, et cetera. We'll get his thoughts in a moment here.
Also if you're dreading the possibility of legal challenges on Tuesday, what signs can you look for on election night to know in one is coming? Good question. Jeff Toobin is looking into it. We'll talk to Jeff in a few moments.
O'BRIEN: Mr. Cafferty, good morning.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning.
Yasser Arafat was flown to France? Am I the only one who finds that interesting that Arafat would be in France getting medical treatment?
Anyway, the school officials around the country, some of them, have found something to do besides worry about how to keep kids from dropping out, raising the test scores. They're focusing on canceling the kids' Halloween parties this year. And here in New York, it's not going down so well and in other places around the country as well. The Grinch has found its way into the Halloween situation.
Wouldn't they have other things to do? I mean, the schools are not in that great of shape.
O'BRIEN: Why cancel Halloween?
CAFFERTY: Well, that's part of the story. We're going to do it in a few minutes. I have to go look that part up.
O'BRIEN: All right, Jack. Thanks.
Let's look at what's in the news this morning. Heidi Collins at the news desk.
Good morning to you.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: A NASA test pilot. That's what Riley's going to be. He's going to wear that costume too.
O'BRIEN: Even if they cancel it in school.
COLLINS: Right, wear it around the house.
Good morning to you guys. And good morning to you, everyone.
Now in the news this morning, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is expected to land in Paris within the hour. Arafat left his compound and arrived in Jordan around 3:30 a.m. Eastern. One of his doctors says Arafat is suffering from a blood platelet deficiency. He'll undergo additional testing in a French military hospital later on today.
A new tape possibly from Al Qaeda has surfaced, but officials say there are real questions about its authenticity. The tape shows a man who calls himself "Asam, the American," threatening terror attacks at, quote, "any moment." The message is delivered in English. The CIA has not been able to verify the tape, and portions of it aired late Thursday on ABC News.
President Bush getting a boost from some families and friends of those who perished in the September 11th attacks. The group, called 9/11 Families for a Safe and Strong America, issued an open letter yesterday urging Americans to re-elect the president.
Senator John Kerry has been endorsed by other families, including a group of 9/11 widows called The Jersey Girls.
It took two weeks for Bill O'Reilly and his former producer to set their lawsuits. Andrea Mackris and the Fox News Channel anchor dropped all allegations against each other yesterday. Mackris accused O'Reilly of making sexually explicit phone calls, while the talk show host claimed she had tried to extort $60 million in hush money. More details on this story coming up in just a few minutes, all over the front papers.
HEMMER: We're going to get to the election right. That's where we start this morning again. The race to the finish line on and going now. Four days until Americans choose a president. Both candidates spending the final campaign weekend crisscrossing the swing states that will ultimately decide who wins the White House in 2004.
White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux with the Bush team in Manchester, New Hampshire this morning. And national correspondent Kelly Wallace with the Kerry team in Orlando, Florida.
Let's start in New Hampshire there with Suzanne.
Good morning.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Bill.
Bush aides tell us that he begins his day in Manchester with a personal message to voters that the president will talk about the kind of challenges both he and the country have faced over the last four years. It was just last night that President Bush returned to the White House. He was asked how he thought the campaign was going. He responded saying, "It's feeling good out there." Now the two issues, of course, that have dominated in the past week have been issues of leadership and security. These are issues that the campaign says are the president's strengths.
But at the same time, of course, they acknowledge that he has been dogged by bad news stories throughout the week. The missing explosives in Iraq that Kerry has blamed on the administration, the news that came out yesterday of an FBI investigation of the Pentagon, whether it was Halliburton that improperly awarded no-bid contracts for its work in Iraq. That company once headed by Cheney. And also news, of course, evidence of a doctored political ad, the closing ad "whatever it takes," that shows pictures of soldiers listening to Mr. Bush speak that were duplicated to fill the audience. The Bush camp acknowledging the edit. They said they did not mean to deceive, and that it has since been fixed.
But as President Bush's top political adviser, Karl Rove, told me earlier in the week, he says this is a race that's going to be determined by character, not by these reactions to some of these news stories, acknowledging some of those news stories were not, in fact, good.
Should let you know as well there is no camp that is beyond using a little bit of star power to actually give a little boost to their candidate. Today, beginning this day, we are going to see Curt Schilling. Of course, he is the World Series pitcher for the Boston Red Sox. He's going to be introducing the president here. And then later today in Ohio, none other than perhaps the Republican's biggest rock star, that is California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger who will appear with the president in Columbus -- Bill.
HEMMER: Suzanne Malveaux in New Hampshire, thanks for that.
I want to get to Kelly Wallace now in Orlando.
Good morning, Kelly. KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill.
Senator Kerry spending the entire day here in Florida, the state with the biggest number of electoral votes up for grabs of all the battlegrounds. Aides say here he's going to try and put together all the arguments he's been making for change, trying to convince those undecided voters who, despite all they have heard, still aren't behind him.
Yesterday it was all about getting the big crowds to energize and excite Democrats. And for that, the senator got some bigtime help from The Boss, Bruce Springsteen. Tens of thousands turning out, first in Madison, Wisconsin, later at the campus of Ohio State. This is the first time Bruce Springsteen is endorsing a presidential candidate, and he delighted the crowds with his version of "No Surrender," Senator Kerry's campaign theme song.
As for the senator, he was fired up by Bruce, by the Boston Red Sox, and he pounds for the fourth day in a row about those missing explosives in Iraq, keeping the story alive for yet another day.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Mr. President, here are the facts that every American can understand, it seems, except for you. The bottom line about these weapons that have disappeared, here's the bottom line: They're not where they're supposed to be. You were warned to guard them. You didn't guard them. They're not secure.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALLACE: And a senior Kerry adviser telling reporters the campaign believes the issue is working for Senator Kerry in that it, quote, "crystallizes the choice" between President Bush and going with Senator Kerry. This adviser also saying the campaign feels it has what you want to have in these final days, and that is momentum. The campaign saying that the news headlines have been going against the White House.
Advisers also like what they're seeing when it comes to the number of Democrats turning out to vote early. Still though, Bill, there is some pause. They would like to see the polls swinging significantly with John Kerry ahead of President Bush. They haven't seen that yet. So still some caution on the part of Kerry advisers -- Bill.
HEMMER: All right, Kelly, thanks for that.
As we mentioned, four days and counting now. On Election Day, CNN's team will be here in New York City. We'll be live from the Nasdaq marketsite in the heart of Times Square. Should be a great night of coverage. Our primetime coverage starts Tuesday evening at 7:00 Eastern Time.
Now, Soledad. O'BRIEN: Well, the Pentagon has been suggesting that missing explosives in Iraq may have been moved before U.S. troops got there in April of 2003. New footage from an American television station whose reporter was embedded with troops that went to that site now cast doubt on that theory.
More now from our senior Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Pentagon's argument that the stockpile of powerful HMX explosive was likely long gone from the al Qa Qaa facility when U.S. troops arrived in April of 2003 was seriously undercut by this video shot by Minneapolis television station KSTP.
Reporter Dean Staley was embedded with soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division when they entered a locked bunker at the al Qa Qaa facility on April 18, 2003, nearly a month into the war but to get in, they cut what now appears to be an International Atomic Energy Agency seal.
DEAN STALEY, FMR. KSTP-TV REPORTER: We thought it might have been some sort of bobby trap because it was such a thin wire but we broke the lock and broke that wire to get in.
MCINTYRE: That IAEA seal, arms experts tell CNN, is the strongest evidence yet that at least some of the missing explosives were inside because HMX was the only material placed under seal at al Qa Qaa and the reporter says the troops he was with were on an unofficial mission just looking around. They were not searching for or securing any material. There was, he said, nothing to stop anyone from looting.
STALEY: And some of the bunkers weren't even locked. I mean we had to break a couple of padlocks to get into some of them, others we did not. They were wide open. We also saw Iraqis at the time driving around in a pickup truck, an old beat-up pickup truck clearly scavenging, I mean, clearly sort of looking around. We kept an eye on them because this was sort of no man's land.
MCINTYRE: The revelation came on a day when the Pentagon released this satellite photograph taken on March 17, 2003, a few days before the war began and after the last inspection by the IAEA. It shows a truck and heavy equipment transporter outside one bunker.
But the Pentagon admits the photo is inconclusive, showing only there was activity at the site and not that any of the explosives were moved. Still, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in a series of radio interviews repeated the Pentagon's contention that it's unlikely the stockpile could have been looted after the U.S. got there.
DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: We had total control of the air. We would have seen anything like that and so the idea that it was suddenly looted and moved out, all of these tons of equipment, is I think at least debatable and it's very likely that just as the United States would do that Saddam Hussein moved munitions when he knew the war was coming.
MCINTRYE (on camera): The Pentagon says the video is just another piece in the puzzle. As it tries to reconstruct what happened to what the IAEA now says is more than 360 tons -- not 380 tons -- of missing high explosives. Still, unclear is whether any was stolen or successfully destroyed by U.S. troops.
Jamie McIntyre, CNN, the Pentagon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: Here now to share his insights into what this new videotape says about these weapons and explosives is David Kay. He's the former chief U.N. weapons inspector, and he's Live in Washington D.C. this morning.
Hi, David. Nice to see you again. Thanks for being with us.
DAVID KAY, FMR. CHIEF U.N. WEAPONS INSPECTOR: Good to see you, Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Thank you. You've seen the videotape. You've seen the seal. You've seen the barrels. In your mind, does this close the debate on the timing for you, under whose jurisdiction this material was when it went missing?
KAY: Well, it closes the timing with regard to this one bunker. I'm absolutely confident that was an IAEA seal. I've never seen an Iraqi seal,; I've never seen anything that looked like that. The only thing that looks like that are the seals we place in the IAEA there. I'm also convinced that that's HMX. That's the way it was stored. There was three suppliers. One uniquely shipped it in barrels with sacks inside. That's HMX.
O'BRIEN: Secretary Rumsfeld, though, you heard him say, it was unlikely it was looted after the Americans got there. Could it be easily moved? Is it unlikely that massive -- 300 tons of this stuff could be moved by looters?
KAY: Well, with all due respect to the secretary, looters don't come in convoys. They're more like ants in your kitchen. They're every place, and they move relatively individually, relatively small amounts. The total is huge. I've been on at least 15 sites while looting was going on in Iraq, and they take down buildings, they move heavy equipment. It's amazing what they can move.
Now looting, obviously, occurred at that site. We observed it after the fact. I'm afraid that is the explanation.
O'BRIEN: Why would the IAEA seal it with a little wire, I mean, if it's dangerous and can be used as a trigger for a nuclear weapon, why not destroy it and remove it?
KAY: Well, that's a good question. It goes back to a dispute in the mid '90s, a large number of us inspectors thought in fact it should have been destroyed. Of all people, Hans Blix made the decision to give in to the Iraqi demand that it be kept in Iraq for potential use in civil construction projects.
The reason you seal it like that is the seal doesn't keep you from getting in. It shows that someone has tampered and breached it. When Iraq was in the -- the Saddam government was in power, that was there to show you if in fact the Iraqis breached the seal. It's not designed to keep you out.
O'BRIEN: There have been a couple of arguments about this. One is from the administration, that what's missing, what's gone missing, whatever the circumstances, is a drop in the bucket, it's a one-tenth of 1 percent, I think is the numbers that they're showing. What do you make of that argument?
KAY: Well, I think they're absolutely right. Look, to maintain perspective, Iraq had roughly two-thirds of the entire conventional armament that the U.S. military has; 360 or 380 tons is insignificant but it is indicative of what occurred across the country. U.S. military personnel in Iraq every day are being killed by weapons that they didn't bring into Iraq from abroad. They stole from Iraqi arms dumps that were not guarded. And in this film, you see what I think is most disturbing about this film, is military tourism within a war zone. If you open up a bunker -- I don't know what the Pottery Barn says about that rule -- but I can tell new a war zone, if you open up a bunker, you're responsible for guarding it. You don't go out and casually open them up, look at what's there and then be leave them, particularly when you don't have control of the site.
O'BRIEN: And does that lead you -- and we don't have a lot of time -- to think that the soldiers didn't necessarily know what they were looking at?
KAY: Oh, I'm sure they didn't know it was HMX. You really have to be a specialist to identify it. For someone like myself looking at it, you can say that's HMX. I saw it first in 1991 actually in that form. No, I think they knew it was explosives. I don't think they knew HMX. It doesn't matter what form the explosive is. If you open up the bunker, you own it, you have to control it.
O'BRIEN: David Kay is a former chief U.N. weapons inspector. Nice to see you, sir. Thanks.
KAY: Good to see you, Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Thank you.
(WEATHER REPORT)
O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, could Halliburton haunt the Bush/Cheney ticket. The FBI opens up an investigation into the vice president's former company.
HEMMER: Also in a moment, how close does the election have to be before the lawyers take over? Why some say you should expect a sequel to the mess of 2000. We'll talk about that.
O'BRIEN: And the Bill O'Reilly sexual harassment case now over. We're going to explain what it means for the talk show host and his accuser, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
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HEMMER: What began as a stunning case of she said/he said has ended now with both sides saying nevermind.
CNN's Adaora Udoji this morning reports on a settlement now on Bill O'Reilly's sexual harassment case.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ADAORA UDOJI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Bill O'Reilly talked about the settlement at the top of his show.
BILL O'REILLY, FOX NEWS HOST: You guys looked out for me, and I will never forget it. This brutal ordeal is now officially over, and I will never speak of it again.
UDOJI: He didn't discuss the terms. It does mean his associate producer, Andrea Mackris, will stop making sexual harassment accusations against him, and he'll stop accusing her of launching a politically motivated plot to extort $60 million. Despite the bitter charges, O'Reilly's lawyers now say, quote, "all parties have agreed there was no wrongdoing whatsoever by anyone."
Mackris was also pleased.
ANDREA MACKRIS, ACCUSED O'REILLY OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT: It's over, and I'm happy.
Are you satisfied with the terms of the settlement?
MACKRIS: I can't say anything else. But I do appreciate everybody. Thank you.
UDOJI: Court TV anchor and attorney Lisa Bloom.
LISA BLOOM, COURT TV: There are still unanswered questions. And of course the biggest one is, what is the dollar amount of the settlement and who paid it? Was it Bill O'Reilly individually? Fox News? News Corp.? We'll probably never know the answer to that.
UDOJI: But the public's not likely to get any answers. The parties have agreed to keep all the details confidential.
Adaora Udoji, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: Also in another story here, federal agents say they've broken up a multimillion dollar identity theft ring. Authorities say 19 people indicted yesterday for their roles in operating a Web site that acted as a one-stop shopping trip for stolen credit cards, drivers licenses, Social Security cards and passports. The international operation responsible for 1.7 million stolen credit cards and $4 million in losses now broken up -- Soledad. O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, oil prices keep going down. And Andy says it's good news if you have money in the market. He's "Minding Your Business" this morning, and we're back in just a moment.
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O'BRIEN: Scrutiny of Halliburton heats up while oil prices cool down. With a look at that and a market preview, Andy Serwer is "Minding Your Business."
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Good morning to you, Soledad.
This Halliburton thing is so confusing and complicated.
It is. It's a little bit murky. The bottom line here is the controversy surrounding Halliburton, the oil services giant, headed by Dick Cheney before he was vice president, just won't go away. The latest news is the FBI now wants to interview a whistle-blower who worked for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Vunatine Greenhouse (ph), who has complained the Army gave preferential treatment for the $7 billion no-bid contract it granted to Halliburton. Now, no-bid contracts makes sense when there is only one company that can do the job. There is controversy over whether in fact Halliburton was the only company that could do the work in Iraq.
And of course, now there are allegations that these charges are politically motivated and back and forth we go. There are new details emerging this morning, and we will be following this story as it unfolds.
SERWER: Let's talk about oil, though, because here is some good news for investors and good news for Americans driving cars this morning as well. You can see the price of oil has been plummeting over the past three days, up from a high of $55.17 on October 22nd, now down below $51 in trading this morning. No coincidence that the stock market has taken off during that time period. We're up again yesterday, two points on the Dow, and that has everything to do with the price of oil -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: All right, Andy, thanks.
SERWER: You're welcome.
O'BRIEN: Back to Jack now and the Question of the Day.
CAFFERTY: Thank you, Bill.
Friday before Halloween, apparently all is well with the New York public school system, because the people at the Board of Education have nothing better to do than put out a memo this year prohibiting Halloween parties in the schools. You know, it's traditional, the Friday before, the kids dress up, they have their little trick or treat. No, no more. Can't wear costumes, can't have parties. Apparently the test score problems's been solved, the dropout problems have been solved, no more weapons or drugs in the schools -- only Halloween, this is the only issue left for the New York Board of Education to get their shorts in a knot over. So they've ruined Halloween for all these kids in the city.
Some of the principals are choosing to look the other way, but they claim it's for safety reasons. I mean, what about the other 364 days of year when you walk into these schools, you've got to go through a metal -- I mean, this is just nonsense. And it's not just New York; it's happening in other places around the country. The question is whether or not school officials ought to be banning Halloween parties and it's Friday, and you can write about anything else you want. But, I mean, for the school board in this city to occupy themselves with something as harmless and benign as Halloween parties, when they got more problems here than they have in most third world countries in the public schools, is just preposterous.
SERWER: What do trick or treaters get when they come to your house, the Cafferty house? That's what I think all viewers want to know this morning.
CAFFERTY: Why don't you drop by on Halloween and I'll show you, Andy. Yes, stop on by, ring the bell and you'll find out.
SERWER: Ding dong.
HEMMER: And run like hell!
CAFFERTY: Yes, ding dong, Serwer calling.
O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, TGIF. Jumpstart your weekend with some "90-Second Pop."
CAFFERTY: Pretty soon.
O'BRIEN: We're talking about Jamie Fox, who's got a new movie, and also, more on the Nicole Kidman movie "Debacle." That's ahead on "90-Second Pop." We're back in a moment.
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