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American Morning

Baseball Star Jason Giambi Admits to Using Steroids; Interview With Washington State Senator Dino Rossi

Aired December 02, 2004 - 09:30   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: And it's exactly half past the hour on this AMERICAN MORNING. Bill Hemmer has the day off. Miles O'Brien in for him.
Nice to have you.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you.

S. O'BRIEN: In just a few minutes, we're going to get back to the report in "The San Francisco Chronicle" that could make some big waves in baseball. The paper is reporting that slugger Jason Giambi admitted to a grand jury that he took steroids. "Chronicle" reporter Lance Williams read the transcript. He's going to talk to us about that, just ahead.

M. O'BRIEN: Also, we're going to talk about the mystery surrounding the man at the center of Ukraine's election crisis. Something happened to make his face go from smooth and youthful -- seen here on the left -- to pocked and haggard -- seen right. Sanjay Gupta offering some medical possibilities.

Let's get the headlines now. Heidi Collins is here.

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks so much.

And now in the news this morning, American strength in Iraq is set to reach an all-time high. The Pentagon says it is dispatching an additional 1,500 troops and extending the stays of more than 10,000 others. It's part of a plan to secure the country ahead of the scheduled January elections.

Meanwhile, the U.S. embassy in Baghdad now warnings personnel to stay away from a main road in the so-called Green Zone. The statement follows a series of mortar attacks today. At least one person was killed when mortars hit Baghdad some five hours ago. Dozens of others are wounded.

To California now, Scott Peterson's friends and family set to be back on the stand in a couple hours. Peterson's father testified yesterday his son was a perfect infant and a sunny teenager. The defense is hoping testimony like this will win some favor with jurors who must decide whether he'll get the death penalty or life in prison. Proceedings set to get under way in less than three hours from now.

And President bush expected to announce another member of his cabinet. In just about two hours, the president will announce his choice for the nominee of the Department of Agriculture. Right now, the president is host hosting Nigeria's president for a round of talks.

A lot going on there today.

S. O'BRIEN: Heidi, thanks.

Baseball star Jason Giambi has admitted to using performance- enhancing drugs, including steroids. The "San Francisco Chronicle" reporting that Giambi testified to a grand to a jury that he got the steroids from Barry Bonds' trainer. But he specifically told them that he had no knowledge that Bonds used any banned substances.

Lance Williams of "The San Francisco Chronicle" joins us now by phone from Berkeley, California.

Nice to talk to you, Lance. Thanks for being with us.

You've seen the documents from the grand jury testimony. What specifically did they say?

LANCE WILLIAMS, REPORTERS, "THE SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE: Giambi said he had used steroids for a period of three years, using decaderabolone (ph), I think it's pronounced. It's a traditional bodybuilders injectable injectable steroid. He met Anderson, Bonds' trailer, in -- after the 2002 season on a barnstorming tour of Japan. Bonds brought Anderson along. Giambi met him, and when they returned to the U.S., Anderson began providing Giambi with the cream and the clear. There are two undetectable steroids that BALCO nutrition lab is alleged to have marketed.

Giambi told the grand jury that he was also using human growth hormone in 2003, in fact, described how you inject it into your stomach. He said he was using an injectable testosterone off an on, which he injected in his buttocks.

These were admissions that made under an immunity deal, in which he was not to be prosecuted for any wrongdoing if he testified truthfully. but faced a perjury prosecution if he lied. And so he did give it up. His brother, Jeremy Giambi, a former Big Leaguer, told virtually the same story. Jeremy said he met Anderson through his brother, and that Anderson provided him with the cream and the clear.

S. O'BRIEN: In public statements, Jason Giambi has always said that he didn't use any performance-enhancing substances. So the grand jury documents in which he said he did, they're supposed to be secret, right? How did you guys get ahold of them, and are you sure that they're completely valid?

WILLIAMS: Well, I don't want to talk about sources. I'm absolutely positive that I reviewed his grand jury testimony. And you're right, it's completely contradicted by his public statements. But the public statements were not made under oath, under threat of penalty and perjury. I assume he told the truth to the grand jury; I assume he's not telling the truth in the public statements. S. O'BRIEN: So he has admitted to using performance enhancing drugs starting in 2001, which is when he came to the Yankees. In 2000, the year before, he won the American League Most Valuable Player. So is there any indication that, in fact, when he won that huge honor, he was using performance-enhancing substances?

WILLIAMS: That wasn't the account he gave. He dated his use of the stuff in a sort of off-handed way. Their discussing a gym in Vegas where he was getting testosterone, and he said he had been doing that for two years before he met Anderson. But there was no indication before 2001 he was doing anything, by his account.

S. O'BRIEN: What could potentially be the fallout? As you mentioned, immunity, legally speaking, but of course huge implications for the sport.

WILLIAMS: I just don't want baseball to do about this. You know, they -- you know, it's clearly bad news. He's a big star. He also has health issues. It's just very discouraging, I think, that this was going on. He was an Oakland A, he was a wonderful, charming player when he was out here. I think he was a great player for the Yankees. And It's just too bad.

I don't know if baseball would do anything. They've been slow to even test for steroids. And I don't think their procedures call for any discipline for first-time use, which is what this would be, I suppose, under their policy. It will be interesting to see what the commissioner -- how he responds.

S. O'BRIEN: No question about that. Lance Williams from "The San Francisco Chronicle" joining us by phone this morning. Thanks for your time. Appreciate it. I know it's early out there to be chatting with us.

He still answers to Dino, but now you can actually call him governor-elect. Washington State Senator Dino Rossi has been certified after a second recount gave him just a 42-vote victory over his Democratic challenger, Christine Gregoire. More than 2.8 million votes were cast in the closest political contest in state history.

Joining us from Seattle is Governor-elect Dino Rossi.

Congratulations to you. Nice to see you. How is it feeling?

DINO ROSSI (D-WA), GOVERNOR-ELECT: Doing better than well, I can tell you that.

S. O'BRIEN: Forty-two votes out of 2.8 million votes is a margin of victory of 0.000015 percent. That's not exactly a mandate from the voters in your state. How is this going to affect what you do in your tenure as governor?

ROSSI: Actually, it doesn't affect anything, because we ran on a platform to turn our state around. I'm the first Republican governor in 20 years. And our platform was very clear: to create economic opportunity for everybody. We're going to follow that, our forward Washington plan, and work across party lines, as I did when I was a state senator, to seek out a philosophical majority versus a partisan majority. I think we'll do just fine.

S. O'BRIEN: We mentioned that you've been certified, but your challenger actually -- Christine Gregoire -- has not conceded the race to you. She's considering doing a hand recount. Do you think she should just up and concede?

ROSSI: Actually, even newspapers that endorsed her have asked her to concede. And we have the most accurate count that we can have. We have had the machine recount. The original count that we had, I won. We had the recount, which was mostly machine recount except for the most Democrat county and the biggest county in the state, which was King County.

S. O'BRIEN: She wants to do a hand recount, though. You don't think a hand recount might potentially be more accurate considering all the failings we know that technology can have?

S. ROSSI: Actually, no.

When human beings count 3,000 ballots, it would be less accurate, and most -- even Democrat state auditors say that. It would be less accurate than what we currently have.

And so, if you overturn an election based upon something that's less accurate and -- I mean, what do you really have in the end? You have an illegitimate governorship and that is really of no value.

And so, that is something that -- why many of even her own advisers are advising her not to go forward. But that's a decision she has to make.

S. O'BRIEN: There is a deadline of January 12th to a large degree. If the recount, if it happens, isn't done by then, what happens?

ROSSI: Well, if the recount isn't done by then, then you would have the current governor could stay on. If he didn't stay on, then the lieutenant governor until it was sorted out.

S. O'BRIEN: What do you do between now and when all of this is decided? Are you packing up your stuff, getting ready to move into the governor's mansion, or are you waiting to see how it really in the end is all resolved?

ROSSI: Well, we're finding school -- we have four small children, so we're finding schools in Olympia for our children, and we have to prepare.

We started our transition team; the first meeting was last night. We brought Republicans and Democrats together on our transition team, people who want to work in good faith to turn the state around. So we're working in earnest to go through resumes and fill positions because, like I said, it's the first time in 20 years we've had a Republican governor, so we're going to get a new fresh set of eyes on the problems here in the state.

S. O'BRIEN: You're moving ahead.

Dino Rossi is the Washington governor-elect.

Nice to talk to you. Congratulations again.

ROSSI: You too. Thank you very much.

S. O'BRIEN: We're going to be talking with Rossi's opponent in the Washington governor's race -- her name is Christine Gregoire -- tomorrow, right here on AMERICAN MORNING -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Still to come on the program, books used to be amazon.com's bread and butter, but that could soon be a thing of the past.

Andy is "Minding Your Business" on that one.

And what happened to the face of Ukraine's opposition leader. Dr. Sanjay Gupta a with a medical whodonnit for us. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: All right, before we do the "House Call" with Sanjay Gupta, we have to set up the backstory for you. Political candidates in every country spend lots of time and money to ensure that they send out the right image, both political and personal.

CNN's Ryan Chilcote telling us how for one of the candidates in the Ukrainian election image may have been everything.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He had movie-star looks, experience in leadership as Ukraine's prime minister. But, according to the pollsters, he lacked the support of enough ordinary Ukrainians to win the presidency.

Then this September, after complaining of food poisoning, he was admitted to a hospital in Kiev, then an Austrian clinic. When he emerged, his face had changed dramatically. His small lines had turned into deep pockmarks, and with them, the contours of Ukraine's political landscape.

Yushka (ph) told his supporters the government was trying to poison him.

VIKTOR YUSHCHENKO, UKRAINIAN OPPOSITION CANDIDATE (through translator): I want to express a special message to the authorities. You will not poison us.

CHILCOTE: Ukraine's top prosecutor investigated. His conclusion: Yushchenko was suffering from herpes.

The same Kremlin spin doctors who crafted President Putin's image in Russia were in Ukraine at the time, to support the pro-Moscow candidate, Viktor Yanukovich.

"The election took on a folklorish, mythic nature," Glev Pavlovsky (ph) says. "It was a lie Yushchenko's staff used to hide the fact that their candidate was ill late in the campaign."

Whether the allegations are fairytales or not, Yushchenko, the politician, became more attractive. Some Yushchenko watchers say he even ditched the makeup he was using to cover up his new face.

Ryan Chilcote, CNN, Moscow.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

M. O'BRIEN: All right, so a medical whodunnit, or what done it, I guess. Let's turn it over to Dr. Sanjay Gupta who answers all of our questions for us.

Sanjay, now that last point that Ryan makes in his piece, that he might have just taken the makeup off is kind of my first inclination. Maybe he just decided not to try to cover up something that had been there all along. What do you think?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: I think that's probably a little less likely. I mean, this is obviously a significant amount of scarring he has on his face, a significant amount of pockmarks on his face as well. I mean, it's certainly not wearing the makeup could have made it a lot worse, but something has happened here. I think that's pretty clear. I've talked to a lot of dermatologists about this as well. Something has happened.

The question is, what? And how do you figure it out if you don't know already?

A couple of things to keep in mind, Miles. Pictures there you can see. I guess that one on the left is from July, the one on the right more recently, and then I think we have one sort of in between in September. There has been a progression, as you can see. That's the one in the middle. There's been a progression of something going on here. But whatever it is, it's taken place over a relatively short amount of time.

A couple of things to think about. Everyone is talking at poisoning possibly. There are certain substances. The one that springs to mind is something known as dioxin, which is the active ingredient in agent orange, which could cause something like this. But here's the thing about that, is that you can typically measure that in the body. So if the doctors really wanted to know if he had, in fact, been poisoned with dioxin, they could probably measure it.

Another thing that springs to mind is just a viral sort of infection, a herpes-type of infection. That could cause not only the skin changes, but also he has some paralysis of the left side of his face as well. Sometimes the viral infection can cause that as well. Those are sort the couple of top contenders there -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes, I think one of the people there was saying some kind of venereal disease. Maybe that's what they were referring to in this case. I don't know. Are there any other things to look at here, besides those?

GUPTA: Yes, a couple things else. I've been thinking about this quite a bit. He was hospitalized actually for something known as acute pancreasitis, which is, you know, inflammation of your pancreas. You're typically given a lot of medication to treat that, including steroids, including some other medications. Could he have had a reaction to one of those medications when he was hospitalized. That's a possibility as well. Also sometimes acute pancreaitis is associated with liver failure. Not only has he developed a scarring, but he's also develop address greenish tint, as you may have noticed as well, Miles, to his face. That can sometimes be associated with liver failure. What most people think of when they see his face, they think of something known as rosacea. Remember W.C. Fields? That sort of picture.

(CROSSTALK)

GUPTA: All that sort of stuff. That's the same sort of thing that he has in his face. The only difference is that typically rosacea develops over a long period of time. In his case, it happened over just a few months -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: All right, Sanjay Gupta, excellent work kind of going through the possibilities there. don't have the answer, though, do we?

GUPTA: We'll keep probing. I think that one thing that dermatologists I talked to said one way to figure this out might be to do a skin biopsy, actually take some of the skin, look at it under a microscope, and see if there's a virus there, see if there's a poison there, see what may have happened here. That may be one way to sort this out.

M. O'BRIEN: All right, Sanjay, book a trip, get on a plane, get over there, all right?

GUPTA: All right, thanks.

M. O'BRIEN: See how that goes. All right, thank you -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Coming up this morning, it looks like amazon.com is shedding its roots. Andy explain in "Minding Your Business." Stay with us, you're watching AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody. Amazon.com breaking away from its roots and soon you'll be able to look for items that are senior friendly. A check with the Wall Street action this morning as well. Andy Serwer's "Minding Your Business." That's a lot to cover. SERWER: A lot of stuff. But that's what we're doing here this morning. Let's talk about stocks first of all, Soledad. Market trading a little bit lower this morning, taking a breather. Down 16 on the Dow from yesterday. Weak job report from last week's jobless claims. Up a little bit. Starbucks is up, though, of course, because they make pumpkin spice lattes. And that stock is up 2.4 percent this morning.

Retailers showing some weakness, though, because the November sales numbers are in and they're not so good. Ann Taylor down 10%, Gap down, 6%, Pier One, Limited, Abercrombie, all weaker.

One area of retailing doing well, though, Soledad, is online shopping. And of course, amazon.com is the king of that business and has been for a while. Everyone thinks of them as a book retailer but, of course, they sell everything from caviar to apparel. In fact, for the first time ever last week they have a new number one category, not books anymore, it's now electronics. So when you think about amazon.com, they sell more electronics, DVD players and the like, than any other type of product.

S. O'BRIEN: But they're not going to stop selling books?

SERWER: They're always going to sell books or -- I shouldn't say always, but I would imagine they're going to always sell books. But you know, you sell one DVD player for 100 bucks versus a couple books, you could see how that would work.

Let's talk about AARP, the American association for retired folks. They are teaming up with Home Depot to designate certain products at the big orange as senior friendly. A seal of approval, if you will, for -- there's a gentleman, Charles Pugh (ph), 73 years old, from Smyrna, Georgia, buying something here.

I thought of a couple products that might be appropriate for seniors. Felt-tipped hammers, blunt nails and how about this one? Saws with dentures instead of teeth. That was supposed to be funny, Jack, again. I'm kind of striking out this morning.

S. O'BRIEN: That was a little flat today.

CAFFERTY: No, no.

M. O'BRIEN: I love that. We love it.

SERWER: Can't always hit the ball out of the park.

S. O'BRIEN: You know, that's true. Is there any indication that the stamp of approval really does anything? That makes all these little old people run out and buy the stuff?

SERWER: I don't know, it's too early to tell.

CAFFERTY: What do you mean, little old people? I'm a member of the AARP. Take it easy.

SERWER: Oh, you took the bait, Jack. We planned that.

CAFFERTY: I'm a dues-paying member of that organization.

S. O'BRIEN: Andy, thank you very much.

Let's take you right to the White House and, in fact, the Oval Office, where President Bush is meeting with his Nigerian counterpart. He's meeting with President Obasanjo. Let's listen in briefly to what the president has to say.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Mr. President, welcome back. It's great to see you.

I'm looking forward to working with you over the next years to strengthen our relationship, to work on a prosperous continent of Africa, to work with you on implementing our strategy to help defeat the pandemic of HIV/AIDS.

I look forward to our discussion today.

I particularly want to thank the president for his contributions to the peacekeeping forces of the African Union. We have worked together on issues such as Liberia and Sudan and other important parts of the continent of Africa.

I look forward to a fruitful relationship and I'm glad you're here. I want to welcome you and thank you for coming, sir.

OLUSEGUN OBASANJO, PRESIDENT OF NIGERIA: Thank you very much, sir.

Mr. President, let me start by congratulating you once again.

And let me express appreciation for receiving me and my delegation so very early in your preparation for this second term.

OBASANJO: Of course, here you are receiving me not only in my capacity as president of Nigeria, but also in my capacity as the chairman of A.U. continental organization.

I'm looking forward to this meeting to consolidate what we have been able to do together, that you have rightly said in the area of peace and security and conflict resolution in Africa, in the area of trade and resource flow for Africa, and in the area of fight against terrorism, and making the world, and particularly Africa, a more peaceful and a more conducive continent to live in. And, of course, in the area of security, stability and availability of some of the essential resources for the development of the world (inaudible) in the Gulf region of our continent.

I'm looking forward to being able to work together.

BUSH: It's good to see you again, sir.

A couple of questions. QUESTION: Do you think questions of fraud and the U.N.'s oil- for-food program have hurt Kofi Annan? Do you think he should resign as Senator Coleman has urged?

BUSH: Yesterday I spoke about the United Nations. I said the United States participates in multilateral organizations and we expect those organizations to be effective.

You know, when an organization says there's going to be serious consequences, if something doesn't happen, it better mean what it says.

BUSH: And on this issue, it's very important for the United Nations to understand that there ought to be a full and fair and open accounting of the oil-for-food program. In order for the taxpayers of the United States to feel comfortable about supporting the United Nations, there has to be an open accounting.

And I look forward to that process going forward.

QUESTION: Should he resign, sir?

BUSH: I look forward to the full disclosure of the facts, get honest appraisal of that which went on. And it's important for the integrity of the organization to have a full and open disclosure of all that took place with the oil-for-food program.

QUESTION: Sir, should there be a new election in Ukraine and should it be free of Russian influence?

BUSH: Well, I think any election, if there is one, ought to be free from any foreign influence. These elections ought to be open and fair.

I appreciate the progress that is being made. I particularly want to, again, thank my friend the president of Poland, the president of Lithuania and the E.U. for its involvement in helping to resolve the Ukrainian election crisis.

And the position of our government is that the will of the people must be known and heard. And therefore we will continue to monitor and be involved in a process that encourages there to be a peaceful resolution of this issue.

And, you know, there's different options on the table and we're watching very carefully what is taking place. But any election in any country must reflect the will of the people and not that of any foreign government.

QUESTION: Mr. President, you're sending more troops to Iraq now.

BUSH: Yes.

QUESTION: This comes on the heels of reports that Iraqi security forces appear to be underperforming, appear to be unprepared for elections in January. If that's the case, what would be so bad about postponing elections if there's the potential of those elections may be seen as illegitimate?

BUSH: Well, first of all the elections should not be postponed. It's time for the Iraqi citizens to go to the polls. And that's why we are very firm on the January 30th date.

Secondly, I have always said that I will listen to the requests of our commanders on the ground, and our commanders requested some troops delay their departure home and the expedition of the other troops to help these elections go forward. And I honored their request.

And thirdly, we are working hard to train Iraqis. And we have got certain benchmarks in mind. And General Petraeus is in charge of training the Iraqi troops. And the Iraqi ministers in charge of that are meeting the goals.

And the idea, of course, and strategy, of course, is have the Iraqis defend their own freedom. And we want to help them have their presidential elections.

And at some point in time, when Iraq is able to defend itself against the terrorists who are trying to destroy democracy, as I've said many times, our troops will come home with the honor they have earned.

BUSH: And it's time for those people to vote and I am looking forward to it.

It's one of those moments in history where a lot of people will be amazed that a society has been transformed so quickly from one of tyranny and torture and mass graves to one in which people actually are allowed to express themselves at the ballot.

Thank you all very much.

QUESTION: Mr. President? Mr. President?

BUSH: Yes, sir?

QUESTION: As you march into the second term, what will Africa be looking forward to, in terms of America's contribution to security, especially in the (inaudible)?

BUSH: I appreciate that.

First of all, Africa was a very important part of my first term. I have met with the president four or five times.

OBASANJO: Four or five.

BUSH: So many times, it's hard to count.

OBASANJO: When we were at the G-8, I think about 10 times. BUSH: Ten times.

I have met with other leaders from the continent of Africa a lot. I have traveled to Africa. I have made fighting the pandemic of HIV/AIDS a central part of my administration.

I helped work to extend AGOA on the full belief that economic trade and the benefits of trade far exceed the benefits of direct aid.

I've worked on the Millennium Challenge Account to help encourage the habits of good governance.

And I will continue that focus and attention on the continent of Africa.

I think it is vital that the continent of Africa be a place of freedom and democracy and prosperity and hope, where people can grow up and realize their dreams. It's a continent that's got vast potential, and the United States wants to help the people of Africa realize that potential.

Thank you all.

S. O'BRIEN: President Bush fielding some questions from reporters in the Oval Office at the White House, where he is meeting with the president of Nigeria. We're out of time here on AMERICAN MORNING. We'll see you back here tomorrow. Let's go right to Daryn Kagan and Rick Sanchez, who are at the CNN Center this morning.

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Aired December 2, 2004 - 09:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: And it's exactly half past the hour on this AMERICAN MORNING. Bill Hemmer has the day off. Miles O'Brien in for him.
Nice to have you.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you.

S. O'BRIEN: In just a few minutes, we're going to get back to the report in "The San Francisco Chronicle" that could make some big waves in baseball. The paper is reporting that slugger Jason Giambi admitted to a grand jury that he took steroids. "Chronicle" reporter Lance Williams read the transcript. He's going to talk to us about that, just ahead.

M. O'BRIEN: Also, we're going to talk about the mystery surrounding the man at the center of Ukraine's election crisis. Something happened to make his face go from smooth and youthful -- seen here on the left -- to pocked and haggard -- seen right. Sanjay Gupta offering some medical possibilities.

Let's get the headlines now. Heidi Collins is here.

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks so much.

And now in the news this morning, American strength in Iraq is set to reach an all-time high. The Pentagon says it is dispatching an additional 1,500 troops and extending the stays of more than 10,000 others. It's part of a plan to secure the country ahead of the scheduled January elections.

Meanwhile, the U.S. embassy in Baghdad now warnings personnel to stay away from a main road in the so-called Green Zone. The statement follows a series of mortar attacks today. At least one person was killed when mortars hit Baghdad some five hours ago. Dozens of others are wounded.

To California now, Scott Peterson's friends and family set to be back on the stand in a couple hours. Peterson's father testified yesterday his son was a perfect infant and a sunny teenager. The defense is hoping testimony like this will win some favor with jurors who must decide whether he'll get the death penalty or life in prison. Proceedings set to get under way in less than three hours from now.

And President bush expected to announce another member of his cabinet. In just about two hours, the president will announce his choice for the nominee of the Department of Agriculture. Right now, the president is host hosting Nigeria's president for a round of talks.

A lot going on there today.

S. O'BRIEN: Heidi, thanks.

Baseball star Jason Giambi has admitted to using performance- enhancing drugs, including steroids. The "San Francisco Chronicle" reporting that Giambi testified to a grand to a jury that he got the steroids from Barry Bonds' trainer. But he specifically told them that he had no knowledge that Bonds used any banned substances.

Lance Williams of "The San Francisco Chronicle" joins us now by phone from Berkeley, California.

Nice to talk to you, Lance. Thanks for being with us.

You've seen the documents from the grand jury testimony. What specifically did they say?

LANCE WILLIAMS, REPORTERS, "THE SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE: Giambi said he had used steroids for a period of three years, using decaderabolone (ph), I think it's pronounced. It's a traditional bodybuilders injectable injectable steroid. He met Anderson, Bonds' trailer, in -- after the 2002 season on a barnstorming tour of Japan. Bonds brought Anderson along. Giambi met him, and when they returned to the U.S., Anderson began providing Giambi with the cream and the clear. There are two undetectable steroids that BALCO nutrition lab is alleged to have marketed.

Giambi told the grand jury that he was also using human growth hormone in 2003, in fact, described how you inject it into your stomach. He said he was using an injectable testosterone off an on, which he injected in his buttocks.

These were admissions that made under an immunity deal, in which he was not to be prosecuted for any wrongdoing if he testified truthfully. but faced a perjury prosecution if he lied. And so he did give it up. His brother, Jeremy Giambi, a former Big Leaguer, told virtually the same story. Jeremy said he met Anderson through his brother, and that Anderson provided him with the cream and the clear.

S. O'BRIEN: In public statements, Jason Giambi has always said that he didn't use any performance-enhancing substances. So the grand jury documents in which he said he did, they're supposed to be secret, right? How did you guys get ahold of them, and are you sure that they're completely valid?

WILLIAMS: Well, I don't want to talk about sources. I'm absolutely positive that I reviewed his grand jury testimony. And you're right, it's completely contradicted by his public statements. But the public statements were not made under oath, under threat of penalty and perjury. I assume he told the truth to the grand jury; I assume he's not telling the truth in the public statements. S. O'BRIEN: So he has admitted to using performance enhancing drugs starting in 2001, which is when he came to the Yankees. In 2000, the year before, he won the American League Most Valuable Player. So is there any indication that, in fact, when he won that huge honor, he was using performance-enhancing substances?

WILLIAMS: That wasn't the account he gave. He dated his use of the stuff in a sort of off-handed way. Their discussing a gym in Vegas where he was getting testosterone, and he said he had been doing that for two years before he met Anderson. But there was no indication before 2001 he was doing anything, by his account.

S. O'BRIEN: What could potentially be the fallout? As you mentioned, immunity, legally speaking, but of course huge implications for the sport.

WILLIAMS: I just don't want baseball to do about this. You know, they -- you know, it's clearly bad news. He's a big star. He also has health issues. It's just very discouraging, I think, that this was going on. He was an Oakland A, he was a wonderful, charming player when he was out here. I think he was a great player for the Yankees. And It's just too bad.

I don't know if baseball would do anything. They've been slow to even test for steroids. And I don't think their procedures call for any discipline for first-time use, which is what this would be, I suppose, under their policy. It will be interesting to see what the commissioner -- how he responds.

S. O'BRIEN: No question about that. Lance Williams from "The San Francisco Chronicle" joining us by phone this morning. Thanks for your time. Appreciate it. I know it's early out there to be chatting with us.

He still answers to Dino, but now you can actually call him governor-elect. Washington State Senator Dino Rossi has been certified after a second recount gave him just a 42-vote victory over his Democratic challenger, Christine Gregoire. More than 2.8 million votes were cast in the closest political contest in state history.

Joining us from Seattle is Governor-elect Dino Rossi.

Congratulations to you. Nice to see you. How is it feeling?

DINO ROSSI (D-WA), GOVERNOR-ELECT: Doing better than well, I can tell you that.

S. O'BRIEN: Forty-two votes out of 2.8 million votes is a margin of victory of 0.000015 percent. That's not exactly a mandate from the voters in your state. How is this going to affect what you do in your tenure as governor?

ROSSI: Actually, it doesn't affect anything, because we ran on a platform to turn our state around. I'm the first Republican governor in 20 years. And our platform was very clear: to create economic opportunity for everybody. We're going to follow that, our forward Washington plan, and work across party lines, as I did when I was a state senator, to seek out a philosophical majority versus a partisan majority. I think we'll do just fine.

S. O'BRIEN: We mentioned that you've been certified, but your challenger actually -- Christine Gregoire -- has not conceded the race to you. She's considering doing a hand recount. Do you think she should just up and concede?

ROSSI: Actually, even newspapers that endorsed her have asked her to concede. And we have the most accurate count that we can have. We have had the machine recount. The original count that we had, I won. We had the recount, which was mostly machine recount except for the most Democrat county and the biggest county in the state, which was King County.

S. O'BRIEN: She wants to do a hand recount, though. You don't think a hand recount might potentially be more accurate considering all the failings we know that technology can have?

S. ROSSI: Actually, no.

When human beings count 3,000 ballots, it would be less accurate, and most -- even Democrat state auditors say that. It would be less accurate than what we currently have.

And so, if you overturn an election based upon something that's less accurate and -- I mean, what do you really have in the end? You have an illegitimate governorship and that is really of no value.

And so, that is something that -- why many of even her own advisers are advising her not to go forward. But that's a decision she has to make.

S. O'BRIEN: There is a deadline of January 12th to a large degree. If the recount, if it happens, isn't done by then, what happens?

ROSSI: Well, if the recount isn't done by then, then you would have the current governor could stay on. If he didn't stay on, then the lieutenant governor until it was sorted out.

S. O'BRIEN: What do you do between now and when all of this is decided? Are you packing up your stuff, getting ready to move into the governor's mansion, or are you waiting to see how it really in the end is all resolved?

ROSSI: Well, we're finding school -- we have four small children, so we're finding schools in Olympia for our children, and we have to prepare.

We started our transition team; the first meeting was last night. We brought Republicans and Democrats together on our transition team, people who want to work in good faith to turn the state around. So we're working in earnest to go through resumes and fill positions because, like I said, it's the first time in 20 years we've had a Republican governor, so we're going to get a new fresh set of eyes on the problems here in the state.

S. O'BRIEN: You're moving ahead.

Dino Rossi is the Washington governor-elect.

Nice to talk to you. Congratulations again.

ROSSI: You too. Thank you very much.

S. O'BRIEN: We're going to be talking with Rossi's opponent in the Washington governor's race -- her name is Christine Gregoire -- tomorrow, right here on AMERICAN MORNING -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Still to come on the program, books used to be amazon.com's bread and butter, but that could soon be a thing of the past.

Andy is "Minding Your Business" on that one.

And what happened to the face of Ukraine's opposition leader. Dr. Sanjay Gupta a with a medical whodonnit for us. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: All right, before we do the "House Call" with Sanjay Gupta, we have to set up the backstory for you. Political candidates in every country spend lots of time and money to ensure that they send out the right image, both political and personal.

CNN's Ryan Chilcote telling us how for one of the candidates in the Ukrainian election image may have been everything.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He had movie-star looks, experience in leadership as Ukraine's prime minister. But, according to the pollsters, he lacked the support of enough ordinary Ukrainians to win the presidency.

Then this September, after complaining of food poisoning, he was admitted to a hospital in Kiev, then an Austrian clinic. When he emerged, his face had changed dramatically. His small lines had turned into deep pockmarks, and with them, the contours of Ukraine's political landscape.

Yushka (ph) told his supporters the government was trying to poison him.

VIKTOR YUSHCHENKO, UKRAINIAN OPPOSITION CANDIDATE (through translator): I want to express a special message to the authorities. You will not poison us.

CHILCOTE: Ukraine's top prosecutor investigated. His conclusion: Yushchenko was suffering from herpes.

The same Kremlin spin doctors who crafted President Putin's image in Russia were in Ukraine at the time, to support the pro-Moscow candidate, Viktor Yanukovich.

"The election took on a folklorish, mythic nature," Glev Pavlovsky (ph) says. "It was a lie Yushchenko's staff used to hide the fact that their candidate was ill late in the campaign."

Whether the allegations are fairytales or not, Yushchenko, the politician, became more attractive. Some Yushchenko watchers say he even ditched the makeup he was using to cover up his new face.

Ryan Chilcote, CNN, Moscow.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

M. O'BRIEN: All right, so a medical whodunnit, or what done it, I guess. Let's turn it over to Dr. Sanjay Gupta who answers all of our questions for us.

Sanjay, now that last point that Ryan makes in his piece, that he might have just taken the makeup off is kind of my first inclination. Maybe he just decided not to try to cover up something that had been there all along. What do you think?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: I think that's probably a little less likely. I mean, this is obviously a significant amount of scarring he has on his face, a significant amount of pockmarks on his face as well. I mean, it's certainly not wearing the makeup could have made it a lot worse, but something has happened here. I think that's pretty clear. I've talked to a lot of dermatologists about this as well. Something has happened.

The question is, what? And how do you figure it out if you don't know already?

A couple of things to keep in mind, Miles. Pictures there you can see. I guess that one on the left is from July, the one on the right more recently, and then I think we have one sort of in between in September. There has been a progression, as you can see. That's the one in the middle. There's been a progression of something going on here. But whatever it is, it's taken place over a relatively short amount of time.

A couple of things to think about. Everyone is talking at poisoning possibly. There are certain substances. The one that springs to mind is something known as dioxin, which is the active ingredient in agent orange, which could cause something like this. But here's the thing about that, is that you can typically measure that in the body. So if the doctors really wanted to know if he had, in fact, been poisoned with dioxin, they could probably measure it.

Another thing that springs to mind is just a viral sort of infection, a herpes-type of infection. That could cause not only the skin changes, but also he has some paralysis of the left side of his face as well. Sometimes the viral infection can cause that as well. Those are sort the couple of top contenders there -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes, I think one of the people there was saying some kind of venereal disease. Maybe that's what they were referring to in this case. I don't know. Are there any other things to look at here, besides those?

GUPTA: Yes, a couple things else. I've been thinking about this quite a bit. He was hospitalized actually for something known as acute pancreasitis, which is, you know, inflammation of your pancreas. You're typically given a lot of medication to treat that, including steroids, including some other medications. Could he have had a reaction to one of those medications when he was hospitalized. That's a possibility as well. Also sometimes acute pancreaitis is associated with liver failure. Not only has he developed a scarring, but he's also develop address greenish tint, as you may have noticed as well, Miles, to his face. That can sometimes be associated with liver failure. What most people think of when they see his face, they think of something known as rosacea. Remember W.C. Fields? That sort of picture.

(CROSSTALK)

GUPTA: All that sort of stuff. That's the same sort of thing that he has in his face. The only difference is that typically rosacea develops over a long period of time. In his case, it happened over just a few months -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: All right, Sanjay Gupta, excellent work kind of going through the possibilities there. don't have the answer, though, do we?

GUPTA: We'll keep probing. I think that one thing that dermatologists I talked to said one way to figure this out might be to do a skin biopsy, actually take some of the skin, look at it under a microscope, and see if there's a virus there, see if there's a poison there, see what may have happened here. That may be one way to sort this out.

M. O'BRIEN: All right, Sanjay, book a trip, get on a plane, get over there, all right?

GUPTA: All right, thanks.

M. O'BRIEN: See how that goes. All right, thank you -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Coming up this morning, it looks like amazon.com is shedding its roots. Andy explain in "Minding Your Business." Stay with us, you're watching AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody. Amazon.com breaking away from its roots and soon you'll be able to look for items that are senior friendly. A check with the Wall Street action this morning as well. Andy Serwer's "Minding Your Business." That's a lot to cover. SERWER: A lot of stuff. But that's what we're doing here this morning. Let's talk about stocks first of all, Soledad. Market trading a little bit lower this morning, taking a breather. Down 16 on the Dow from yesterday. Weak job report from last week's jobless claims. Up a little bit. Starbucks is up, though, of course, because they make pumpkin spice lattes. And that stock is up 2.4 percent this morning.

Retailers showing some weakness, though, because the November sales numbers are in and they're not so good. Ann Taylor down 10%, Gap down, 6%, Pier One, Limited, Abercrombie, all weaker.

One area of retailing doing well, though, Soledad, is online shopping. And of course, amazon.com is the king of that business and has been for a while. Everyone thinks of them as a book retailer but, of course, they sell everything from caviar to apparel. In fact, for the first time ever last week they have a new number one category, not books anymore, it's now electronics. So when you think about amazon.com, they sell more electronics, DVD players and the like, than any other type of product.

S. O'BRIEN: But they're not going to stop selling books?

SERWER: They're always going to sell books or -- I shouldn't say always, but I would imagine they're going to always sell books. But you know, you sell one DVD player for 100 bucks versus a couple books, you could see how that would work.

Let's talk about AARP, the American association for retired folks. They are teaming up with Home Depot to designate certain products at the big orange as senior friendly. A seal of approval, if you will, for -- there's a gentleman, Charles Pugh (ph), 73 years old, from Smyrna, Georgia, buying something here.

I thought of a couple products that might be appropriate for seniors. Felt-tipped hammers, blunt nails and how about this one? Saws with dentures instead of teeth. That was supposed to be funny, Jack, again. I'm kind of striking out this morning.

S. O'BRIEN: That was a little flat today.

CAFFERTY: No, no.

M. O'BRIEN: I love that. We love it.

SERWER: Can't always hit the ball out of the park.

S. O'BRIEN: You know, that's true. Is there any indication that the stamp of approval really does anything? That makes all these little old people run out and buy the stuff?

SERWER: I don't know, it's too early to tell.

CAFFERTY: What do you mean, little old people? I'm a member of the AARP. Take it easy.

SERWER: Oh, you took the bait, Jack. We planned that.

CAFFERTY: I'm a dues-paying member of that organization.

S. O'BRIEN: Andy, thank you very much.

Let's take you right to the White House and, in fact, the Oval Office, where President Bush is meeting with his Nigerian counterpart. He's meeting with President Obasanjo. Let's listen in briefly to what the president has to say.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Mr. President, welcome back. It's great to see you.

I'm looking forward to working with you over the next years to strengthen our relationship, to work on a prosperous continent of Africa, to work with you on implementing our strategy to help defeat the pandemic of HIV/AIDS.

I look forward to our discussion today.

I particularly want to thank the president for his contributions to the peacekeeping forces of the African Union. We have worked together on issues such as Liberia and Sudan and other important parts of the continent of Africa.

I look forward to a fruitful relationship and I'm glad you're here. I want to welcome you and thank you for coming, sir.

OLUSEGUN OBASANJO, PRESIDENT OF NIGERIA: Thank you very much, sir.

Mr. President, let me start by congratulating you once again.

And let me express appreciation for receiving me and my delegation so very early in your preparation for this second term.

OBASANJO: Of course, here you are receiving me not only in my capacity as president of Nigeria, but also in my capacity as the chairman of A.U. continental organization.

I'm looking forward to this meeting to consolidate what we have been able to do together, that you have rightly said in the area of peace and security and conflict resolution in Africa, in the area of trade and resource flow for Africa, and in the area of fight against terrorism, and making the world, and particularly Africa, a more peaceful and a more conducive continent to live in. And, of course, in the area of security, stability and availability of some of the essential resources for the development of the world (inaudible) in the Gulf region of our continent.

I'm looking forward to being able to work together.

BUSH: It's good to see you again, sir.

A couple of questions. QUESTION: Do you think questions of fraud and the U.N.'s oil- for-food program have hurt Kofi Annan? Do you think he should resign as Senator Coleman has urged?

BUSH: Yesterday I spoke about the United Nations. I said the United States participates in multilateral organizations and we expect those organizations to be effective.

You know, when an organization says there's going to be serious consequences, if something doesn't happen, it better mean what it says.

BUSH: And on this issue, it's very important for the United Nations to understand that there ought to be a full and fair and open accounting of the oil-for-food program. In order for the taxpayers of the United States to feel comfortable about supporting the United Nations, there has to be an open accounting.

And I look forward to that process going forward.

QUESTION: Should he resign, sir?

BUSH: I look forward to the full disclosure of the facts, get honest appraisal of that which went on. And it's important for the integrity of the organization to have a full and open disclosure of all that took place with the oil-for-food program.

QUESTION: Sir, should there be a new election in Ukraine and should it be free of Russian influence?

BUSH: Well, I think any election, if there is one, ought to be free from any foreign influence. These elections ought to be open and fair.

I appreciate the progress that is being made. I particularly want to, again, thank my friend the president of Poland, the president of Lithuania and the E.U. for its involvement in helping to resolve the Ukrainian election crisis.

And the position of our government is that the will of the people must be known and heard. And therefore we will continue to monitor and be involved in a process that encourages there to be a peaceful resolution of this issue.

And, you know, there's different options on the table and we're watching very carefully what is taking place. But any election in any country must reflect the will of the people and not that of any foreign government.

QUESTION: Mr. President, you're sending more troops to Iraq now.

BUSH: Yes.

QUESTION: This comes on the heels of reports that Iraqi security forces appear to be underperforming, appear to be unprepared for elections in January. If that's the case, what would be so bad about postponing elections if there's the potential of those elections may be seen as illegitimate?

BUSH: Well, first of all the elections should not be postponed. It's time for the Iraqi citizens to go to the polls. And that's why we are very firm on the January 30th date.

Secondly, I have always said that I will listen to the requests of our commanders on the ground, and our commanders requested some troops delay their departure home and the expedition of the other troops to help these elections go forward. And I honored their request.

And thirdly, we are working hard to train Iraqis. And we have got certain benchmarks in mind. And General Petraeus is in charge of training the Iraqi troops. And the Iraqi ministers in charge of that are meeting the goals.

And the idea, of course, and strategy, of course, is have the Iraqis defend their own freedom. And we want to help them have their presidential elections.

And at some point in time, when Iraq is able to defend itself against the terrorists who are trying to destroy democracy, as I've said many times, our troops will come home with the honor they have earned.

BUSH: And it's time for those people to vote and I am looking forward to it.

It's one of those moments in history where a lot of people will be amazed that a society has been transformed so quickly from one of tyranny and torture and mass graves to one in which people actually are allowed to express themselves at the ballot.

Thank you all very much.

QUESTION: Mr. President? Mr. President?

BUSH: Yes, sir?

QUESTION: As you march into the second term, what will Africa be looking forward to, in terms of America's contribution to security, especially in the (inaudible)?

BUSH: I appreciate that.

First of all, Africa was a very important part of my first term. I have met with the president four or five times.

OBASANJO: Four or five.

BUSH: So many times, it's hard to count.

OBASANJO: When we were at the G-8, I think about 10 times. BUSH: Ten times.

I have met with other leaders from the continent of Africa a lot. I have traveled to Africa. I have made fighting the pandemic of HIV/AIDS a central part of my administration.

I helped work to extend AGOA on the full belief that economic trade and the benefits of trade far exceed the benefits of direct aid.

I've worked on the Millennium Challenge Account to help encourage the habits of good governance.

And I will continue that focus and attention on the continent of Africa.

I think it is vital that the continent of Africa be a place of freedom and democracy and prosperity and hope, where people can grow up and realize their dreams. It's a continent that's got vast potential, and the United States wants to help the people of Africa realize that potential.

Thank you all.

S. O'BRIEN: President Bush fielding some questions from reporters in the Oval Office at the White House, where he is meeting with the president of Nigeria. We're out of time here on AMERICAN MORNING. We'll see you back here tomorrow. Let's go right to Daryn Kagan and Rick Sanchez, who are at the CNN Center this morning.

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