Return to Transcripts main page
American Morning
Turning Up the Heat on Congressional Holdouts; Botox Scare
Aired November 30, 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: President Bush heads to Canada for some fence mending. Will he be welcome there?
Turning up the heat on congressional holdouts, new pressure coming today to pass the 9/11 reforms.
Botox scare. Four cases of botulism possibly linked to Botox injections.
And emergency dispatchers partying the night away. What they don't know is there was a camera, caught on tape, 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. Bill Hemmer has the day off today, but Miles O'Brien is filling in for him.
It's nice to have you again. You're around all week for us, right? You're here on us, right?
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, I hope there's not a camera on us doing that while we're doing our dancing.
S. O'BRIEN: You didn't like that guy's move?
M. O'BRIEN: Felonious jitterbugging there, I think, yes, bad.
All right, well, good morning to you.
Lots going on this morning. In just a moment, new information on that plane crash involving NBC Sports chairman Dick Ebersol.
Also on the place this morning, the sentencing phase of the Scott Peterson trial expected to finally get under way. Jeff Toobin will be here to talk about what each side will try to do today.
S. O'BRIEN: Also this morning, my good friend, Bill Nye the Science Guy is going to join us. He and the people over at the Science Channel have came up with the list of the 100 greatest science discoveries of all time, some pretty big moments in science, and some you may never have heard of. We'll take a list at what made the list.
What?
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Nothing. Bill Nye the Science Guy is my kind of fellow. Yes, I'm looking forward to this.
The oil-for-food scandal over there at the United Nations continues to grow, sort of like mold in a petri dish. The secretary- general's son it turns out -- that would be Kofi Annan's kid -- son has been taking payoffs for four years from a Swiss company who had a contract to oversee this thing. I mean, it just reeks. And of course his dad says, well, I had no idea. Sixty-four billion dollars worth of Iraqi oil the U.N. was charged with overseeing. We'll take a look at this thing, but you may want to put a clothes pin on your nose.
O'BRIEN: Jack, thank you.
CAFFERTY: You're welcome.
O'BRIEN: Headlines now with Heidi Collins. She's over at the Time Warner Center in New York, not too far from where we are.
Hey, Heidi, good morning.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, good morning to you, Soledad.
Now in the new this morning, President Bush is heading to Canada today for the first state visit by a U.S. president there in nearly 10 years. The president will try to patch up relations with Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin. Ties between the two countries have soured over trade disputes and the war in Iraq. We're going to have a live report from the White House, just ahead.
Iran says its freeze is only temporary. Iran's chief nuclear negotiator says the country has agreed to suspend its uranium- enrichment activities, but only for several months, until negotiations with Europe are complete. Iran has insisted its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.
The man accused in the Wisconsin deer hunter shootings is due in court today. Chai Vang has been charged with six counts of murder and two counts of attempted murder. In court papers, Vang says he opened fire after other the other hunters shot at him first. Two of the survivors are disputing that claim.
And finally, a new study suggests stress can make you feel 10 years older. That's a shocker. Researchers say stress wears down immune cells. The findings, based on a small study, could explain why people under intense long-term emotional strain get sick and grow old faster. The report is in the new issue of "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences."
Soledad, back down to you.
O'BRIEN: All right, Heidi, thanks.
The stalled 9/11 intelligence reform bill is going to get two big pushes today, one from 9/11 families and the other from 9/11 commissioners.
Lee Hamilton, the former vice chairman of the commission, joins us from our Washington bureau this morning.
Nice to see you again, sir. Thanks for being with us.
LEE HAMILTON, FMR. 9/11 COMMISSION VICE CHAIRMAN: Thank you.
O'BRIEN: What exactly is your goal with this press conference today? Who are you talking to? Who's your audience?
HAMILTON: Well, our audience, I guess, most specifically is the Congress, but also the American people because the Congress reflects their views.
This bill came very close to passage a couple of weeks ago. The Congress adjourned. It's coming back into session on Monday, the 6th of December. And among the top items for consideration will be this intelligence bill, or more broadly, not just intelligence but counterterrorism because it's a very comprehensive bill.
O'BRIEN: So then your goal is not only to bring attention to the issue and the stalling, frankly, in Congress, it's also in some ways to embarrass and pressure those who are holdouts?
HAMILTON: I don't think we have any intent at all to embarrass anyone here.
Look, the issues are genuine. They're difficult. There are no easy solutions here. And reasonable people can have different points of view.
The commissioners believe what we have recommended will make the American people safer and more secure. And we're pushing very hard to see that these recommendations are, in fact, adopted.
But our report is not a part of the 10 Commandments. We recognize there are other points of view and these things have to be thrashed out.
O'BRIEN: If this legislation does not pass by the end of the year, not only do you have to relook at the legislation, you really go back to the drawing board in the new year. You hash it out all over again. So to what degree do you think that impacts the safety of the American people if it does not pass before the new year?
HAMILTON: Well, we think it's a serious impact. The vote that will occurs next week, if it occurs, is do you accept the conference report with all of the recommendations -- literally scores of them, maybe hundreds of them -- that strengthen the counterterrorism policies of the United States or do you vote no and keep the status quo? And the status quo is that the intelligence community is basically structured the same way it was before 9/11.
The result of a "no" vote, then, means, as you suggest in your question, that you go back to the drawing board, you start all over again in the next Congress, the 109th Congress. It will be months, six months, eight months, a year, before a new bill can come forward. All the time the terrorists will be planning another attack and we will be less secure because we haven't made the fundamental structural changes in our government.
O'BRIEN: Here is what Chairman Kean had to say. He said, "This bill will pass. The question is whether it will pass now or after a second attack." Do you think that he is overstating it? He says essentially there is going to be another terror attack and if this bill does not pass, there will be one.
HAMILTON: All of the commissioners unanimously agreed, after interviewing, I might say, over 1,500 people, all of them experts, that another attack will occur. We don't know when, we don't know how, we don't know the method, but we think another attack will occur. And we better get serious about making the changes that are necessary in our government to reduce the risks to the American people.
So Chairman Kean stated the view, I think, quite cogently.
O'BRIEN: 9/11 Commission Vice Chairman Lee Hamilton joining us this morning.
It's nice to see you as always, sir. Thanks for being with us -- Miles.
HAMILTON: Thank you.
M. O'BRIEN: Officials in Colorado believe they have found the body of Dick Ebersol's 14-year-old son, Teddy. Ebersol and two of his sons were onboard a small jet Sunday when it crashed on takeoff. It happened in the town of Montrose, about 200 miles southwest of Denver, and that's where we find Chris Lawrence this morning.
Good morning, Chris.
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Miles.
The entire family was headed home from California this weekend after watching the Notre Dame-Southern California football game. The Ebersols have sons at both schools, and they stopped here in Colorado to drop off wife and mother, actress Susan St. James. Then, in the process of flying one son back to Notre Dame, they may have lost their youngest son.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're 99.9 percent sure it's Teddy Ebersol. It matches his physical description, and he of course is the missing person.
LAWRENCE (voice-over): The body believed to be 14-year-old Teddy Ebersol was found after a search surrounding the area of the charred wreckage came empty.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The body located today was located under the aircraft. We used heavy equipment to lift the aircraft off him and remove his body.
LAWRENCE: The plane crashed Sunday while trying to take off during a snowstorm. The pilot and a flight attendant were also killed. NBC sports chairman Dick Ebersol, his oldest son and the copilot survived.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The pilot and the flight attendant who are both deceased were ejected from the aircraft. Actually, as far as I know, the only person who was not ejected was Mr. Ebersol, and Charlie went back, and the 21-year-old went back and pulled his father out of the airplane.
LAWRENCE: It's still not clear if weather was a factor in the crash. The company that deices private planes at the airport did not deice Ebersol's plane before it took off. NTSB investigators are checking the cockpit voice recorder for clues.
ARNOLD SCOTT, NTSB LEAD INVESTIGATOR: What happened was when he taxied it, he called Denver Center, which is in long Longmont (ph), and got his IRF clearance to South Bend. My information is that Denver Center says advise us when you're ready for takeoff. He said we are ready for takeoff right now. That was the last communication they had with him.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAWRENCE: Now when it comes to problem with ice, it's still just a theory at this point. But when it comes to the case of a corporate plane, it's up to the pilot, it's his decision whether to call for the deicing, and this case, he did not -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Chris Lawrence, thank you very much. In our next hour, we'll talk about the crash with the head of the National Transportation Safety Board -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: The same jury that convicted Scott Peterson of murdering his wife and unborn son reconvened this morning for the trial's penalty phase. The California Supreme Court yesterday rejected a request from Peterson's lawyers for a new jury and a new venue.
Senior legal analyst Jeff Toobin joins us to talk about the case.
Give me a sense, and some people have said that the request for a new venue and other requests that are made by Mark Geragos, many people frankly thought were laughable, was actually a delay strategy. What would be the value in that?
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SR. LEGAL ANALYST: Well, the jury was obviously at an emotional pitch in deciding to find Peterson guilty in the guilt phase. And time tends to lessen passions a little bit, give people some time with their family over Thanksgiving, let them look at the penalty phase evidence with a somewhat clearer eye, and they have now had almost two weeks off between the guilt phase and start of the penalty phase.
S. O'BRIEN: Some people have said, in the holidays, people are thinking forgiveness. Do you buy into that? TOOBIN: You know, that's something trial lawyers do all the time, they're always people talk about Christmas verdicts, it's good for the defense to have a verdict on the eve of Christmas. I've never seen that matter very much, but it's sort of part of trial lawyers lore.
S. O'BRIEN: We're told that the prosecutors are going to paint Scott Peterson as a liar, as a philanderer, as a heartless guy. But Mark Geragos actually did a pretty good job of that for his client. Does he have to remove himself now? I mean, he said he's a cad, but not a murderer.
TOOBIN: You know, this is the hardest thing a defense attorney can do, period. In the penalty phase, you're going back to the same jurors who think your client is a murderer, who have already found beyond a reasonable doubt that he committed this horrendous crime. You've to go back to the exact same people and say, well, we know you think he's a bad guy, but he's not the worst guy. Basically, what you've got to do is try find one juror, and that's all you need in a penalty phase, who will say either I'm not sure to an absolute moral perfect certainty this guy did it, even though we found proof beyond a reasonable doubt, or the rest of his life justifies keeping him alive.
S. O'BRIEN: Should Geragos -- or will he use a colleague to do that? Or do you think it matters if the defense attorney distances himself?
TOOBIN: No, I think it's Geragos will do it himself. I think Geragos was personally embarrassed because he wasn't there during the verdict, so he's going to be taking center stage.
S. O'BRIEN: Let's talk for one moment about Michael Jackson, some new information coming out about this case. Lawyers can subpoena the medical and military records of the relatives of the boy who's accusing Michael Jackson of molesting him. What's the value of that?
TOOBIN: Well, this is just a small hint of how ugly this trial is going to be. The defense in this case is that the victim, alleged victim, and his family, were engaged in nothing but an extortion attempt, trying to get money out of Michael Jackson. And this is part of the defense strategy, to say, look, the family had problems, medical problems, problems in their past, that is part of the motive...
S. O'BRIEN: Medical records of the family members?
TOOBIN: The family members are going to be the -- it's easier to blame the family members than the kid who made the accusations, and the family members are going to be the real target of the defense here.
S. O'BRIEN: It's going to get ugly. Jeff Toobin, as always, thanks, appreciate it.
(WEATHER REPORT) S. O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, Botox known, of course, for smoothing out the wrinkles in your skin. But for four people this morning, doctors want to know if it could prove fatal. Dr. Gupta is going to tell us why, just ahead.
M. O'BRIEN: Also, what are the 100 greatest discoveries of all time. Think about it for just a moment. You probably won't know most of them as a matter of fact. Bill Nye the Science Guy is here. He'll share with us his list.
S. O'BRIEN: And take a look at this videotape. These guys are supposed to be serving the public. Instead, they're accused serving themselves alcohol and cocaine. What's on the tape? We'll show you, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
M. O'BRIEN: State and federal health officials investigating a possible connection between Botox injections and several cases of botulism.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta joining us from the CNN Center in Atlanta with details on all of this.
I guess that should not come as a huge surprise, because Botox is a derivative of botulism, right?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, but what is a huge surprise, is there has never been a case of botulism from Botox before. In fact, if this is the case here, this would be the first. Talking about Florida and New Jersey now, two confirmed cases in Florida, two suspected cases in New Jersey. The question at hand, are they related to Botox shots? People know what Botox is. That's the medication you take to try to smooth away wrinkles in your forehead and your face.
Most people also know, as you point out, Miles, that it comes from the botulism A toxin. This is a toxin that's actually a poison. It causes botulism. This is how the doctor caring for the patients in Florida said of their conditions.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. CHARLES SCHALLOP, PALM BEACH GARDENS MEDICAL CENTER: This is very serious. These are two young, healthy individuals who are now critically ill on breathing machines.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUPTA: A serious problem, both those patients on breathing machines. The way you make the diagnose of botulism. Typically patients have a very characteristic set of symptoms -- double/blurred vision, drooping eyelids, slurred speech, difficulty swallowing, dry mouth, and then it's muscle weakness that can sometimes put them on breathing machines. It is possible, and this is what investigators are looking at right now, that all four people in Florida, as well as the people in New Jersey, all received Botox shots at the same clinic in Florida. Again, this is just a possibility. No one has confirmed it.
Allergan, the company that makes Botox, put out a statement immediately after hearing about this. Basically the statement says that as this time Allergan cannot determine whether the stories involving patients treated at the Advanced Integrated Medical Center in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida have anything to do with Allergan's product Botox. We are working diligently with the appropriate public health authorities to determine the facts surrounding these cases -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Sanjay, have there ever been fatalities linked to Botox?
GUPTA: Not in this way. There has been a case report that everyone cites talking about a woman who had an allergic reaction, subsequently went into cardiac arrest and died. So if these four people actually did get botulism from Botox, there is a good chance, first of all, they will survive. People do know how to treat botulism in today's day and age. While they may become very sick, they probably won't die, and also it would be the first cases documented of actually getting botulism from the Botox shots -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: All right, Sanjay Gupta, thank you very much. We appreciate it -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: We got this just into CNN to tell you about this morning. We're going to take you to our affiliate WAGA in Georgia. You are seeing a trench collapse. Apparently some 50 workers on the scene. They've worked through the night and sat through this morning in an effort to dig out a construction worker who's been buried after that trench collapsed at a new subdivision they were building. Apparently the collapsed happened around 9 p.m. on Monday. They were digging sewer lines there at that subdivision. Officials believe the worker, though, is trapped in an air pocket, which is good news for him. He's been buried up to his neck, and they're trying to continue to rescue him.
We're going to update you on this story, of course, and thanks to our affiliate WAGA, again, for those pictures of that rescue as it happens.
Still to come this morning, on AMERICAN MORNING, Andy is back, and he's MINDING YOUR BUSINESS. He'll tell us all why he feels like the '90s all over again on Wall Street. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
S. O'BRIEN: An Amazon.com competitor comes out swinging. With that and a look at the markets this morning, Andy Serwer is back, and he's "Minding Your Business."
Hello.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Hello. Good to see you. S. O'BRIEN: ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Thanks, likewise.
SERWER: I was busy yesterday, Soledad, busy down at the New York Stock Exchange. Let's take a look at what I was doing yesterday. They have it. No, that's not really me. That's Spider-man. Whoa! OK, they were celebrating the release of the "Spider-Man" DVD two. And that's some trick. They do have some fun. He's ringing the closing bell. He's going to be shaking Sir Howard Stringer's hand.
Notice he was going down, Soledad, which is apropos, because the market is going down. And you can see here, the Dow was down 46 points. Nasdaq up a little bit, Jack. The Dow hurt by the dollar, and also hurt by Wal-mart. Yesterday the large discounter said it wasn't discounting enough, and that hurt sales around Thanksgiving. That stock down about 4 percent yesterday. That's what really dragged the market down.
But as you mentioned, one company doing very well, overstock.com, which sells discontinued items online, just doing fabulously well, and that stock,was rocketing yesterday. The stock has gone from $16 to $68 over the past year, and it is having a great Christmas season. You know, this time of year, they always say, are we having a good Christmas season or not? And you see the headlines -- "Tepid Sales," "Brisk Sales." It's very difficult to tell until the end of the year, and it seems like it's a pretty good year for retailers so far. So that's the best way to characterize it.
S. O'BRIEN: Thank you, Andy.
SERWER: You're welcome.
M. O'BRIEN: Still early in the game.
SERWER: Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: Jack Cafferty is here. He's got a great-looking tie on this morning.
CAFFERTY: Yes, thank you very much. I was shopping yesterday for this.
SERWER: Helping the economy.
CAFFERTY: This is Hemmer's tie so we can put this thing to rest. I came to work...
M. O'BRIEN: A little bit of Bill Hemmer in this show.
CAFFERTY: I came to work without a tie on, because I forgot, because I get up at a stupid hour, a quarter to 4:00 in the morning, and I forgot to put a tie on. So this is Hemmer's tie, and I'll leave a quarter on the desk, and I don't want to discuss it anymore.
SERWER: You forgot the jacket, too.
CAFFERTY: Here's what we do want to talk about, though, this U.N. oil-for-food program. This thing just reeks. It was supposed to provide humanitarian aid to Iraq from 1993-2003. It is now a scandal of monumental proportions.
The latest revelation, first reported by the "New York Sun" newspaper, is that the son of the secretary-general of the U.N., Kojo Annan, has been getting $2,500 a month for five years from a company called Katechna (ph), a Swiss outfit which held a lucrative contract under the oil-for-food program. The secretary-general, Kofi Annan, his daddy, said yesterday that he was surprised and disappointed by these revelations, and admitted that the payments to his son create a -- quote -- perception of conflict of interests and wrongdoing. Duh.
In all the United Nations, under Koffi Annan's leadership, oversaw the export of $64 billion of Iraqi oil before the program was eventually transferred to the U.S. in 2003. The program is now the subject of several investigations into corruptions and kickbacks to Saddam Hussein, as well as to France and to Russia.
With the idea the buck stops at the top, here's the question, should Kofi Annan resign as head of the United Nations?
M. O'BRIEN: Now, does Mr. Annan deny that he knew his son...
CAFFERTY: He claims he didn't know anything about it. He said my son is a grown man, and I don't ask about his business, he doesn't ask about mine, which is balderdash, for want of a better word. I mean, the guy is getting paid off the books by an outfit that has a lucrative contract to administer this oil-for-food program, he's the son of the secretary-general, who's running the whole thing. I mean, come on, I was born at night, but it wasn't last night, you know. Geez.
SERWER: Who investigates the U.N.? I mean, that's interesting.
CAFFERTY: Well, we are here this morning.
M. O'BRIEN: Send in the black helicopters. They'll take care of it.
S. O'BRIEN: Thanks, Jack.
CAFFERTY: Sure.
S. O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, the president tries to warm relations with his neighbor to the north. We're going to take you live to the White House to find out just what he's doing today. Plus, what does it take to find out the greatest 100 discoveries of all time. We're going to check in with Bill Nye the Science Guy, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired November 30, 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: President Bush heads to Canada for some fence mending. Will he be welcome there?
Turning up the heat on congressional holdouts, new pressure coming today to pass the 9/11 reforms.
Botox scare. Four cases of botulism possibly linked to Botox injections.
And emergency dispatchers partying the night away. What they don't know is there was a camera, caught on tape, 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. Bill Hemmer has the day off today, but Miles O'Brien is filling in for him.
It's nice to have you again. You're around all week for us, right? You're here on us, right?
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, I hope there's not a camera on us doing that while we're doing our dancing.
S. O'BRIEN: You didn't like that guy's move?
M. O'BRIEN: Felonious jitterbugging there, I think, yes, bad.
All right, well, good morning to you.
Lots going on this morning. In just a moment, new information on that plane crash involving NBC Sports chairman Dick Ebersol.
Also on the place this morning, the sentencing phase of the Scott Peterson trial expected to finally get under way. Jeff Toobin will be here to talk about what each side will try to do today.
S. O'BRIEN: Also this morning, my good friend, Bill Nye the Science Guy is going to join us. He and the people over at the Science Channel have came up with the list of the 100 greatest science discoveries of all time, some pretty big moments in science, and some you may never have heard of. We'll take a list at what made the list.
What?
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Nothing. Bill Nye the Science Guy is my kind of fellow. Yes, I'm looking forward to this.
The oil-for-food scandal over there at the United Nations continues to grow, sort of like mold in a petri dish. The secretary- general's son it turns out -- that would be Kofi Annan's kid -- son has been taking payoffs for four years from a Swiss company who had a contract to oversee this thing. I mean, it just reeks. And of course his dad says, well, I had no idea. Sixty-four billion dollars worth of Iraqi oil the U.N. was charged with overseeing. We'll take a look at this thing, but you may want to put a clothes pin on your nose.
O'BRIEN: Jack, thank you.
CAFFERTY: You're welcome.
O'BRIEN: Headlines now with Heidi Collins. She's over at the Time Warner Center in New York, not too far from where we are.
Hey, Heidi, good morning.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, good morning to you, Soledad.
Now in the new this morning, President Bush is heading to Canada today for the first state visit by a U.S. president there in nearly 10 years. The president will try to patch up relations with Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin. Ties between the two countries have soured over trade disputes and the war in Iraq. We're going to have a live report from the White House, just ahead.
Iran says its freeze is only temporary. Iran's chief nuclear negotiator says the country has agreed to suspend its uranium- enrichment activities, but only for several months, until negotiations with Europe are complete. Iran has insisted its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.
The man accused in the Wisconsin deer hunter shootings is due in court today. Chai Vang has been charged with six counts of murder and two counts of attempted murder. In court papers, Vang says he opened fire after other the other hunters shot at him first. Two of the survivors are disputing that claim.
And finally, a new study suggests stress can make you feel 10 years older. That's a shocker. Researchers say stress wears down immune cells. The findings, based on a small study, could explain why people under intense long-term emotional strain get sick and grow old faster. The report is in the new issue of "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences."
Soledad, back down to you.
O'BRIEN: All right, Heidi, thanks.
The stalled 9/11 intelligence reform bill is going to get two big pushes today, one from 9/11 families and the other from 9/11 commissioners.
Lee Hamilton, the former vice chairman of the commission, joins us from our Washington bureau this morning.
Nice to see you again, sir. Thanks for being with us.
LEE HAMILTON, FMR. 9/11 COMMISSION VICE CHAIRMAN: Thank you.
O'BRIEN: What exactly is your goal with this press conference today? Who are you talking to? Who's your audience?
HAMILTON: Well, our audience, I guess, most specifically is the Congress, but also the American people because the Congress reflects their views.
This bill came very close to passage a couple of weeks ago. The Congress adjourned. It's coming back into session on Monday, the 6th of December. And among the top items for consideration will be this intelligence bill, or more broadly, not just intelligence but counterterrorism because it's a very comprehensive bill.
O'BRIEN: So then your goal is not only to bring attention to the issue and the stalling, frankly, in Congress, it's also in some ways to embarrass and pressure those who are holdouts?
HAMILTON: I don't think we have any intent at all to embarrass anyone here.
Look, the issues are genuine. They're difficult. There are no easy solutions here. And reasonable people can have different points of view.
The commissioners believe what we have recommended will make the American people safer and more secure. And we're pushing very hard to see that these recommendations are, in fact, adopted.
But our report is not a part of the 10 Commandments. We recognize there are other points of view and these things have to be thrashed out.
O'BRIEN: If this legislation does not pass by the end of the year, not only do you have to relook at the legislation, you really go back to the drawing board in the new year. You hash it out all over again. So to what degree do you think that impacts the safety of the American people if it does not pass before the new year?
HAMILTON: Well, we think it's a serious impact. The vote that will occurs next week, if it occurs, is do you accept the conference report with all of the recommendations -- literally scores of them, maybe hundreds of them -- that strengthen the counterterrorism policies of the United States or do you vote no and keep the status quo? And the status quo is that the intelligence community is basically structured the same way it was before 9/11.
The result of a "no" vote, then, means, as you suggest in your question, that you go back to the drawing board, you start all over again in the next Congress, the 109th Congress. It will be months, six months, eight months, a year, before a new bill can come forward. All the time the terrorists will be planning another attack and we will be less secure because we haven't made the fundamental structural changes in our government.
O'BRIEN: Here is what Chairman Kean had to say. He said, "This bill will pass. The question is whether it will pass now or after a second attack." Do you think that he is overstating it? He says essentially there is going to be another terror attack and if this bill does not pass, there will be one.
HAMILTON: All of the commissioners unanimously agreed, after interviewing, I might say, over 1,500 people, all of them experts, that another attack will occur. We don't know when, we don't know how, we don't know the method, but we think another attack will occur. And we better get serious about making the changes that are necessary in our government to reduce the risks to the American people.
So Chairman Kean stated the view, I think, quite cogently.
O'BRIEN: 9/11 Commission Vice Chairman Lee Hamilton joining us this morning.
It's nice to see you as always, sir. Thanks for being with us -- Miles.
HAMILTON: Thank you.
M. O'BRIEN: Officials in Colorado believe they have found the body of Dick Ebersol's 14-year-old son, Teddy. Ebersol and two of his sons were onboard a small jet Sunday when it crashed on takeoff. It happened in the town of Montrose, about 200 miles southwest of Denver, and that's where we find Chris Lawrence this morning.
Good morning, Chris.
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Miles.
The entire family was headed home from California this weekend after watching the Notre Dame-Southern California football game. The Ebersols have sons at both schools, and they stopped here in Colorado to drop off wife and mother, actress Susan St. James. Then, in the process of flying one son back to Notre Dame, they may have lost their youngest son.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're 99.9 percent sure it's Teddy Ebersol. It matches his physical description, and he of course is the missing person.
LAWRENCE (voice-over): The body believed to be 14-year-old Teddy Ebersol was found after a search surrounding the area of the charred wreckage came empty.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The body located today was located under the aircraft. We used heavy equipment to lift the aircraft off him and remove his body.
LAWRENCE: The plane crashed Sunday while trying to take off during a snowstorm. The pilot and a flight attendant were also killed. NBC sports chairman Dick Ebersol, his oldest son and the copilot survived.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The pilot and the flight attendant who are both deceased were ejected from the aircraft. Actually, as far as I know, the only person who was not ejected was Mr. Ebersol, and Charlie went back, and the 21-year-old went back and pulled his father out of the airplane.
LAWRENCE: It's still not clear if weather was a factor in the crash. The company that deices private planes at the airport did not deice Ebersol's plane before it took off. NTSB investigators are checking the cockpit voice recorder for clues.
ARNOLD SCOTT, NTSB LEAD INVESTIGATOR: What happened was when he taxied it, he called Denver Center, which is in long Longmont (ph), and got his IRF clearance to South Bend. My information is that Denver Center says advise us when you're ready for takeoff. He said we are ready for takeoff right now. That was the last communication they had with him.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAWRENCE: Now when it comes to problem with ice, it's still just a theory at this point. But when it comes to the case of a corporate plane, it's up to the pilot, it's his decision whether to call for the deicing, and this case, he did not -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Chris Lawrence, thank you very much. In our next hour, we'll talk about the crash with the head of the National Transportation Safety Board -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: The same jury that convicted Scott Peterson of murdering his wife and unborn son reconvened this morning for the trial's penalty phase. The California Supreme Court yesterday rejected a request from Peterson's lawyers for a new jury and a new venue.
Senior legal analyst Jeff Toobin joins us to talk about the case.
Give me a sense, and some people have said that the request for a new venue and other requests that are made by Mark Geragos, many people frankly thought were laughable, was actually a delay strategy. What would be the value in that?
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SR. LEGAL ANALYST: Well, the jury was obviously at an emotional pitch in deciding to find Peterson guilty in the guilt phase. And time tends to lessen passions a little bit, give people some time with their family over Thanksgiving, let them look at the penalty phase evidence with a somewhat clearer eye, and they have now had almost two weeks off between the guilt phase and start of the penalty phase.
S. O'BRIEN: Some people have said, in the holidays, people are thinking forgiveness. Do you buy into that? TOOBIN: You know, that's something trial lawyers do all the time, they're always people talk about Christmas verdicts, it's good for the defense to have a verdict on the eve of Christmas. I've never seen that matter very much, but it's sort of part of trial lawyers lore.
S. O'BRIEN: We're told that the prosecutors are going to paint Scott Peterson as a liar, as a philanderer, as a heartless guy. But Mark Geragos actually did a pretty good job of that for his client. Does he have to remove himself now? I mean, he said he's a cad, but not a murderer.
TOOBIN: You know, this is the hardest thing a defense attorney can do, period. In the penalty phase, you're going back to the same jurors who think your client is a murderer, who have already found beyond a reasonable doubt that he committed this horrendous crime. You've to go back to the exact same people and say, well, we know you think he's a bad guy, but he's not the worst guy. Basically, what you've got to do is try find one juror, and that's all you need in a penalty phase, who will say either I'm not sure to an absolute moral perfect certainty this guy did it, even though we found proof beyond a reasonable doubt, or the rest of his life justifies keeping him alive.
S. O'BRIEN: Should Geragos -- or will he use a colleague to do that? Or do you think it matters if the defense attorney distances himself?
TOOBIN: No, I think it's Geragos will do it himself. I think Geragos was personally embarrassed because he wasn't there during the verdict, so he's going to be taking center stage.
S. O'BRIEN: Let's talk for one moment about Michael Jackson, some new information coming out about this case. Lawyers can subpoena the medical and military records of the relatives of the boy who's accusing Michael Jackson of molesting him. What's the value of that?
TOOBIN: Well, this is just a small hint of how ugly this trial is going to be. The defense in this case is that the victim, alleged victim, and his family, were engaged in nothing but an extortion attempt, trying to get money out of Michael Jackson. And this is part of the defense strategy, to say, look, the family had problems, medical problems, problems in their past, that is part of the motive...
S. O'BRIEN: Medical records of the family members?
TOOBIN: The family members are going to be the -- it's easier to blame the family members than the kid who made the accusations, and the family members are going to be the real target of the defense here.
S. O'BRIEN: It's going to get ugly. Jeff Toobin, as always, thanks, appreciate it.
(WEATHER REPORT) S. O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, Botox known, of course, for smoothing out the wrinkles in your skin. But for four people this morning, doctors want to know if it could prove fatal. Dr. Gupta is going to tell us why, just ahead.
M. O'BRIEN: Also, what are the 100 greatest discoveries of all time. Think about it for just a moment. You probably won't know most of them as a matter of fact. Bill Nye the Science Guy is here. He'll share with us his list.
S. O'BRIEN: And take a look at this videotape. These guys are supposed to be serving the public. Instead, they're accused serving themselves alcohol and cocaine. What's on the tape? We'll show you, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
M. O'BRIEN: State and federal health officials investigating a possible connection between Botox injections and several cases of botulism.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta joining us from the CNN Center in Atlanta with details on all of this.
I guess that should not come as a huge surprise, because Botox is a derivative of botulism, right?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, but what is a huge surprise, is there has never been a case of botulism from Botox before. In fact, if this is the case here, this would be the first. Talking about Florida and New Jersey now, two confirmed cases in Florida, two suspected cases in New Jersey. The question at hand, are they related to Botox shots? People know what Botox is. That's the medication you take to try to smooth away wrinkles in your forehead and your face.
Most people also know, as you point out, Miles, that it comes from the botulism A toxin. This is a toxin that's actually a poison. It causes botulism. This is how the doctor caring for the patients in Florida said of their conditions.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. CHARLES SCHALLOP, PALM BEACH GARDENS MEDICAL CENTER: This is very serious. These are two young, healthy individuals who are now critically ill on breathing machines.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUPTA: A serious problem, both those patients on breathing machines. The way you make the diagnose of botulism. Typically patients have a very characteristic set of symptoms -- double/blurred vision, drooping eyelids, slurred speech, difficulty swallowing, dry mouth, and then it's muscle weakness that can sometimes put them on breathing machines. It is possible, and this is what investigators are looking at right now, that all four people in Florida, as well as the people in New Jersey, all received Botox shots at the same clinic in Florida. Again, this is just a possibility. No one has confirmed it.
Allergan, the company that makes Botox, put out a statement immediately after hearing about this. Basically the statement says that as this time Allergan cannot determine whether the stories involving patients treated at the Advanced Integrated Medical Center in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida have anything to do with Allergan's product Botox. We are working diligently with the appropriate public health authorities to determine the facts surrounding these cases -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Sanjay, have there ever been fatalities linked to Botox?
GUPTA: Not in this way. There has been a case report that everyone cites talking about a woman who had an allergic reaction, subsequently went into cardiac arrest and died. So if these four people actually did get botulism from Botox, there is a good chance, first of all, they will survive. People do know how to treat botulism in today's day and age. While they may become very sick, they probably won't die, and also it would be the first cases documented of actually getting botulism from the Botox shots -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: All right, Sanjay Gupta, thank you very much. We appreciate it -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: We got this just into CNN to tell you about this morning. We're going to take you to our affiliate WAGA in Georgia. You are seeing a trench collapse. Apparently some 50 workers on the scene. They've worked through the night and sat through this morning in an effort to dig out a construction worker who's been buried after that trench collapsed at a new subdivision they were building. Apparently the collapsed happened around 9 p.m. on Monday. They were digging sewer lines there at that subdivision. Officials believe the worker, though, is trapped in an air pocket, which is good news for him. He's been buried up to his neck, and they're trying to continue to rescue him.
We're going to update you on this story, of course, and thanks to our affiliate WAGA, again, for those pictures of that rescue as it happens.
Still to come this morning, on AMERICAN MORNING, Andy is back, and he's MINDING YOUR BUSINESS. He'll tell us all why he feels like the '90s all over again on Wall Street. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
S. O'BRIEN: An Amazon.com competitor comes out swinging. With that and a look at the markets this morning, Andy Serwer is back, and he's "Minding Your Business."
Hello.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Hello. Good to see you. S. O'BRIEN: ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Thanks, likewise.
SERWER: I was busy yesterday, Soledad, busy down at the New York Stock Exchange. Let's take a look at what I was doing yesterday. They have it. No, that's not really me. That's Spider-man. Whoa! OK, they were celebrating the release of the "Spider-Man" DVD two. And that's some trick. They do have some fun. He's ringing the closing bell. He's going to be shaking Sir Howard Stringer's hand.
Notice he was going down, Soledad, which is apropos, because the market is going down. And you can see here, the Dow was down 46 points. Nasdaq up a little bit, Jack. The Dow hurt by the dollar, and also hurt by Wal-mart. Yesterday the large discounter said it wasn't discounting enough, and that hurt sales around Thanksgiving. That stock down about 4 percent yesterday. That's what really dragged the market down.
But as you mentioned, one company doing very well, overstock.com, which sells discontinued items online, just doing fabulously well, and that stock,was rocketing yesterday. The stock has gone from $16 to $68 over the past year, and it is having a great Christmas season. You know, this time of year, they always say, are we having a good Christmas season or not? And you see the headlines -- "Tepid Sales," "Brisk Sales." It's very difficult to tell until the end of the year, and it seems like it's a pretty good year for retailers so far. So that's the best way to characterize it.
S. O'BRIEN: Thank you, Andy.
SERWER: You're welcome.
M. O'BRIEN: Still early in the game.
SERWER: Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: Jack Cafferty is here. He's got a great-looking tie on this morning.
CAFFERTY: Yes, thank you very much. I was shopping yesterday for this.
SERWER: Helping the economy.
CAFFERTY: This is Hemmer's tie so we can put this thing to rest. I came to work...
M. O'BRIEN: A little bit of Bill Hemmer in this show.
CAFFERTY: I came to work without a tie on, because I forgot, because I get up at a stupid hour, a quarter to 4:00 in the morning, and I forgot to put a tie on. So this is Hemmer's tie, and I'll leave a quarter on the desk, and I don't want to discuss it anymore.
SERWER: You forgot the jacket, too.
CAFFERTY: Here's what we do want to talk about, though, this U.N. oil-for-food program. This thing just reeks. It was supposed to provide humanitarian aid to Iraq from 1993-2003. It is now a scandal of monumental proportions.
The latest revelation, first reported by the "New York Sun" newspaper, is that the son of the secretary-general of the U.N., Kojo Annan, has been getting $2,500 a month for five years from a company called Katechna (ph), a Swiss outfit which held a lucrative contract under the oil-for-food program. The secretary-general, Kofi Annan, his daddy, said yesterday that he was surprised and disappointed by these revelations, and admitted that the payments to his son create a -- quote -- perception of conflict of interests and wrongdoing. Duh.
In all the United Nations, under Koffi Annan's leadership, oversaw the export of $64 billion of Iraqi oil before the program was eventually transferred to the U.S. in 2003. The program is now the subject of several investigations into corruptions and kickbacks to Saddam Hussein, as well as to France and to Russia.
With the idea the buck stops at the top, here's the question, should Kofi Annan resign as head of the United Nations?
M. O'BRIEN: Now, does Mr. Annan deny that he knew his son...
CAFFERTY: He claims he didn't know anything about it. He said my son is a grown man, and I don't ask about his business, he doesn't ask about mine, which is balderdash, for want of a better word. I mean, the guy is getting paid off the books by an outfit that has a lucrative contract to administer this oil-for-food program, he's the son of the secretary-general, who's running the whole thing. I mean, come on, I was born at night, but it wasn't last night, you know. Geez.
SERWER: Who investigates the U.N.? I mean, that's interesting.
CAFFERTY: Well, we are here this morning.
M. O'BRIEN: Send in the black helicopters. They'll take care of it.
S. O'BRIEN: Thanks, Jack.
CAFFERTY: Sure.
S. O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, the president tries to warm relations with his neighbor to the north. We're going to take you live to the White House to find out just what he's doing today. Plus, what does it take to find out the greatest 100 discoveries of all time. We're going to check in with Bill Nye the Science Guy, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
