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CNN Live At Daybreak
Deadly Day In Baghdad; Rice On the Hill; Tyco Trial, Take Two; Showdown Showtime; Interview With Charlie Brotman
Aired January 19, 2005 - 06:32 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.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. Welcome to the last half-hour of DAYBREAK. From the Time Warner center in New York, I'm Carol Costello, along with Chad Myers.
It has been a violent day in Iraq. A series of suicide car bombings have killed 25 people in Baghdad, most of them police officers. A 26th person was killed in Hilla.
Live now to Baghdad and Jeff Koinange. He has more details for us.
Hello -- Jeff.
JEFF KOINANGE, CNN LAGOS BUREAU CHIEF: Good morning there, Carol.
And there seems no letup to the wave of violence sweeping across Baghdad and beyond on this Wednesday.
First up, right outside the Australian embassy a suicide car bomber detonated himself, killing a bystander, wounding up to five. And we understand there are two Australian soldiers among the wounded.
Next up, less than half an hour later, a more powerful car bomb right outside the Iraqi Emergency Police headquarters. This one killed up to 18 people, including 13 Iraqi policemen, wounded up to 20.
Yet a third car bomb right outside an Iraqi military headquarters about a mile from where we're standing here. That one killed two Iraqi soldiers.
And yet a fourth bomb on the southern entrance to Baghdad killed four people, including two Iraqi policemen, and also one U.S. soldier was wounded in that incident.
So, there seems no letup to the campaign of violence in the run- up to the January 30 elections, now just 11 days away -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Jeff Koinange live in Baghdad this morning.
More than nine long hours of questioning and a few testy exchanges. We're talking about Condoleezza Rice's Senate hearings on her nomination as secretary of state.
Our Ed Henry has details on day one. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ED HENRY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Some of the sharpest questioning of Condoleezza Rice came from John Kerry, who had hoped to spend this week getting ready for his inauguration and putting the finishing touches on a Kerry cabinet. Instead, the former Democratic presidential nominee was grilling President Bush's pick for secretary of state about Iraq.
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: The current policy is growing the insurgency, not diminishing it. We went in to rescue Iraq from Saddam Hussein. Now, I think we have to rescue our policy from ourselves.
HENRY: Rice stood her ground, saying the world is better off with Saddam out of power, but she also tried to strike a conciliatory tone by acknowledging mistakes.
CONDOLEEZA RICE, SECRETARY OF STATE NOMINEE: This was never going to be easy. It was always going to have ups and downs. I'm sure that we have made multiple, many decisions, some of which were good, some of which might not have been good.
HENRY: The hearing grew even more tense when Democrat Barbara Boxer charged that Rice's loyalty to President Bush led to her hype the threat from Hussein in the build-up to war in Iraq.
SEN. BARBARA BOXER (D), CALIFORNIA: This is my personal view that your loyalty to the mission you were given to sell this war overwhelmed your respect for the truth.
HENRY: Rice bristled at the allegation.
RICE: I have to say that I have never, ever lost respect for the truth in the service of anything. I really hope that you will refrain from impugning my integrity.
HENRY: Rice said the administration is determined to force Iran and North Korea to abandon their nuclear ambitions, and vowed to confront major issues like peace in the Middle East.
RICE: America and the free world are once again engaged in a long-term struggle against an ideology of hatred and tyranny and terror and hopelessness. And we must confront these challenges with the same vision and the same courage and the same boldness that dominated our post-world war period.
HENRY (on camera): Despite the tough questions, Condoleezza Rice is expected to be easily confirmed by the Senate as early as Thursday, the same day President Bush will be inaugurated.
Ed Henry, CNN, Capitol Hill.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: They're back. After a mistrial, a second trial has begun for former Tyco Dennis Kozlowski and his chief financial officer, Mark Swartz. You surely remember how they're accused of using Tyco as their personal piggybank to buy things like a $6,000 shower curtain.
DAYBREAK contributor Ali Velshi is here to fill us in on what's happening today.
ALI VELSHI, CNN DAYBREAK CONTRIBUTOR: It is so cold that last night I was at Bed, Bath & Beyond to get a heater, and I was looking in the shower curtain section. Clearly, Dennis Kozlowski or whoever bought that shower curtain doesn't go to Bed, Bath & Beyond. It might as well be called the trial of the $6,000 shower curtain, because whether or not Dennis Kozlowski and Mark Swartz are convicted this time, that's what people are going to remember.
Prosecutors say the $6,000 shower curtain is symbolic of the way Dennis Kozlowski lived his life, buying lavish things and charging it to Tyco, the company he was in charge of. Things like a $5,000 bed skirt, that's your shower curtain we're talking about, half the cost of $2 million birthday party in Sardinia for his wife.
It all, when it adds up, comes out to about $600 million that Kozlowski and his former CFO are accused of looting from the company. They face 31 criminal counts between them, including some pretty serious ones, like first-degree larceny, falsifying business records and conspiracy.
As you pointed out, Carol, Kozlowski and Swartz have already been through one trial. That one lasted six months. It ended last April after a juror -- remember, this was a really interesting thing. A juror received a threatening phone call. The next day, the judge declared a mistrial.
Prosecutors were, at the time, criticized for putting on an overly complicated trial, focusing too much on these lavish spending habits. A lot of people said this case has its merits on its own.
So, this trial is complicated. It's expected to last up to four months. If convicted, the two men could face up to 30 years in prison.
Before the scandal broke, Tyco, one of the biggest companies in the country, was worth about $60 a share. After the scandal, it went as low as $10 a share.
COSTELLO: Wow!
VELSHI: And now trading around $35 a share. It's a big company. Unlike WorldCom, it didn't cripple the company.
COSTELLO: Interesting. You know, Dennis Kozlowski was interviewed by "The New York Times."
VELSHI: Yes.
COSTELLO: And in reading his comments, he says he's really being railroaded by this, because the $6,000 shower curtain, for example, he said he had no idea that someone bought that for his home.
VELSHI: Right.
COSTELLO: Because he doesn't do that.
VELSHI: Yes. I'd kind of notice if it were on my bill that somebody put a $6,000 shower curtain. But, you know, he made a lot of money...
COSTELLO: Well, he didn't check.
VELSHI: ... and didn't check when somebody else was doing it. So...
COSTELLO: But doesn't the bottom line come down if there's anything criminal done? I mean, if they didn't know they were doing anything wrong, per se...
VELSHI: Right.
COSTELLO: ... they could get off scot-free.
VELSHI: He also says the board approved of any expenses they put through. So, it's one of these complicated accounting things. Once again, whether it's WorldCom or it's Enron, it comes down to the fact that there is some accounting stuff in there, which does make it complicated, which is why it's a four-month trial and it doesn't end up being about the shower curtain.
But that's, of course, the stuff that gives us pictures to show people, because otherwise we'd have to show you buildings and guys walking in and out of court.
COSTELLO: Exactly. Thank you, Ali.
VELSHI: Sure.
COSTELLO: In news across America this morning, a man who sparked a four-hour standoff with federal agents near the White House will be arraigned this morning. Several area buildings were evacuated after 54-year-old Lowell Timmers threatened to ignite a substance in his parked van. The man was parked along the route of tomorrow's inaugural parade.
Saudi Arabia is off the hook in a major court case stemming from the 9/11 attacks. A federal judge in New York ruled that Saudi Arabia, the royal family and several Saudi banks could not be named as defendants in the case. The civil lawsuits allege that they helped fund Osama bin Laden and the al Qaeda terror network.
A military jet and a small plane collide over Oklahoma. The pilot of the small plane was killed. Two military pilots suffered only minor injuries when they ejected. They were on a training mission out of Sheppard Air Force Base in Texas.
Ever try to time your arrival at the movies so you miss the previews and all of the commercials? In three minutes, we'll look at legislation that may change the way movie times are listed.
And our very special guest this inaugural week, Charlie Brotman joins me to talk about his decades-long career as the voice that announces the president.
Here's a look at what else is making news this Wednesday morning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: You rush to the movie theater, barely getting there in time, or so you think. When the movie is supposed to start, you're treated instead to preview after preview, even to commercial after commercial.
Connecticut State Representative Andrew Fleischmann would like to change that, and he joins us live to explain.
Good morning.
REP. ANDREW FLEISCHMANN (D), WEST HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT: Good morning.
COSTELLO: Why tackle this issue?
FLEISCHMANN: Well, I've had constituents come to me and complain, and say, hey, it used to be that we had 5 or 10 minutes of previews. Now, we've got 20 to 25 minutes of previews and ads, and it's just not fair.
COSTELLO: So, what are you proposing?
FLEISCHMANN: My bill couldn't be simpler. It would simply require that movie theaters tell us the truth. And that in their ads and listings they provide the start time for the ads and trailers and also the start time for the actual film.
COSTELLO: But you know what the movie theaters are saying. They say they have to show these commercials and these previews to keep ticket prices down.
FLEISCHMANN: Well, I mean, the fact is that ticket prices haven't been kept down. In my neck of the woods, they're about 8.50 now. If you go to a big city, they're up to about 10.50. And I think we consumers have a right to know when the movie actually starts and a right to choose how many ads and trailers we sit through.
COSTELLO: Have you heard from your constituents how they really feel and how they react when they go into the movie theater and they see these long previews and commercial after commercial?
FLEISCHMANN: I just had a constituent approach me yesterday and thank me for putting in the bill, and say that he and his wife went to a movie this weekend and were subjected to more than 30 minutes of ads and previews. And he said, not only was it frustrating, not only did it feel like a waste of time, but they had had to hire an expensive sitter. So, it was literally costing them every minute they were sitting there. And he just thought it was ridiculous; that they should have known when the film actually started, so they wouldn't have had to rush so much.
COSTELLO: I've actually heard in some New York theaters people actually stand up and curse the movie screen when these previews start going on and on and on. Is there a lot of support for this? Do you think this bill will get through?
FLEISCHMANN: I think there's a tremendous amount of support among members of the public. There's always a challenge when you're proposing legislation, because, you know, industries are often powerful. In this case, movie theater operators, you know, they have lobbyists. They have industry associations. They've already been contacting the leadership of my general assembly trying to kill the bill early. They don't like the idea of someone trying to get them to tell the truth to their customers, because they're making a buck off of it.
But I really think it's important that we as consumers stand up and stand our ground. I do think that there's a reasonable chance that we'll get this through. The last time I saw a bill that got this kind of reaction was the do-not-call list, which started here in Connecticut. After we finally did get it passed, we had hundreds of thousands of people sign up to be on it, so that they could be free of telemarketing solicitations. And within a couple of years, there was federal legislation.
So, I'm hoping, given the sort of reaction I'm seeing from regular folks out there, that we get a similar course of progress on this legislation.
COSTELLO: Well, we will be following the progress of the bill. Representative Andrew Fleischmann from Connecticut, thank you for joining DAYBREAK this morning.
If you're planning to brave the cold and go to the inaugural parade tomorrow, you will hear a familiar voice. After the break, we'll be joined by Charlie Brotman. He is the voice of the inaugural parade.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: No inauguration would be complete without the president and the president's announcer. For the past 44 years, Charlie Brotman has been the voice of the inaugural parade, announcing each step of the president and his family all the way from Capitol Hill to the White House.
Live to Washington now and the president's announcer.
Good morning, Charlie.
CHARLIE BROTMAN, INAUGURAL PARADE ANNOUNCER: Good morning. I think they want me to do it until I get it right. So, I'll be here for another 50 years. COSTELLO: No, no, no. I've heard you, and you're terrific every year. You know, it's going to be so cold this year. And, of course, each year everyone wonders if the president will follow Jimmy Carter's example and get out of his limo and walk the parade route. What's your guess in these tense times?
BROTMAN: What is happening now is that they want to be part of the general public. They want to appear like really nice human beings. So, I think what's going to happen, they will ride in the limo from the Capitol to 15th and Pennsylvania Avenue, and at 15th and Penn they'll get out of the car and walk to the presidential reviewing stand. That's my guess.
COSTELLO: And the crowd gets so excited when that happens.
BROTMAN: Absolutely. Secret Service has nervous breakdowns, but the spectators really enjoy it.
COSTELLO: Yes, they certainly do. You serve as the eyes and ears of the president as he makes his way to the White House. Explain why your words over the public address system are so important to the smooth running of this event.
BROTMAN: Well, what actually happens is that the president has a very unusually bad viewing area. He is street-level. I am up, like, three or four stories, and I can see what's coming. So, when I say, 'Ladies and gentlemen, the United States Marine Corps band marching towards the presidential viewing stand,' the president knows when to stand, when to salute, when to laugh. It's really exciting for him. But he can't see it, so he needs kind of a nudge, a verbal nudge, as to who's coming and who's going.
COSTELLO: And you very expertly provide that. You must have so many memories. We want the poignant ones. You must share the frozen hours of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the bands.
BROTMAN: Oh, boy.
COSTELLO: I heard one year the bands' lips froze to their instruments.
BROTMAN: You're right about having very many memories. I was a stadium announcer for a baseball team here in Washington, introduced the president throwing out the first ball. That was Eisenhower. Got a call from the White House, who said, "How would you like to introduce the president again?" And I said, 'I'd love to.' It was the inaugural in 1957, and I've been doing the announcing ever since.
But you're right. The parades are actually an extension of the president's personality. And so, what happens, if it were Eisenhower, a military man, no big deal. Let's get it over with. If it's someone like Kennedy, oh, boy, let's have a parade. This is going to be a festive occasion. And I think Reagan had the ultimate parade, and it was so exciting, because he brought Hollywood to Washington.
COSTELLO: Yes, he certainly...
BROTMAN: And Kennedy did have a problem, and the problem was the weather. It was so cold. How cold was it? Thirty-five degrees below zero with a wind chill. They had three feet of snow on Pennsylvania Avenue. They wanted to cancel the parade. However, the president does have his way. They got about 3,000 servicemen with flame throwers and trucks. And they cleared the streets, and we had a parade.
COSTELLO: But I did hear that Jackie Kennedy, like, ducked out, because she was too cold. And this was the one where the band -- where the instruments froze to their lips, because it was so cold.
BROTMAN: It's so incredible. You're right. Jackie stood in the inaugural parade area for one hour, got so cold and went back to the White House. Yes, it was Carter's inaugural parade, where it was so cold -- you know how you have saliva that's around your lips? And when the musicians are playing instruments, their lips were actually frozen to the mouthpiece. It sounds horrible, and it was. Oh, the first day you had a heyday.
COSTELLO: Oh, my goodness. Charlie Brotman, thank you so much. And we look forward to your announcing of the inaugural parade this year again.
BROTMAN: Oh, thank you.
COSTELLO: Charlie Brotman, thanks for joining DAYBREAK.
BROTMAN: Thanks a lot. It will be fun.
COSTELLO: I'm sure it will.
At 3:30 Eastern this afternoon CNN's Judy Woodruff and Wolf Blitzer lead our live inaugural coverage of "George W. Bush: The Road Ahead." Throughout the day tomorrow, we'll have complete coverage you will not want to miss.
This is DAYBREAK for a Wednesday morning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: You know, Chad, I hope it warms up for the inaugural parade.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It will be 30...
COSTELLO: Oh, that's not bad.
MYERS: ... and maybe even 37 by parade time. But there will be some snow showers in the air. The same kind of a clip where that's coming through now, Carol. This is just one of the first of many of these things. We're going to have, like, three of them before the end of the weekend, and an inch or two of snow. It moves on by, and then it's gone. And the temperatures really are not that bad; 30 degrees is not below zero. And the wind chill will be 20 at best. Not bad. COSTELLO: Oh, yes, 20. What's a 20-degree wind chill factor?
MYERS: It's still winter.
COSTELLO: I know. But that's still stinks.
MYERS: All right.
COSTELLO: Taking a look at the headlines this morning, Chad.
MYERS: Yes.
COSTELLO: This will interest you. It's in "The Wall Street Journal." You can have a time share on things like RVs, also corporate jets...
MYERS: Well, sure, corporate jets.
COSTELLO: ... yachts, Bentleys, so that you don't have to pay the entire cost. You can share it with, like, 9 or 10 other people.
MYERS: Hopefully they're clean people.
COSTELLO: Pardon? I didn't hear you.
MYERS: Hopefully they're clean people.
COSTELLO: Yes, hopefully so. They take care of things.
MYERS: Yes.
COSTELLO: In the "New York Post" this morning, Mike Piazza is getting married.
MYERS: Yes.
COSTELLO: Which should set all of those rumors aside. He's marrying that "Baywatch" babe that you're looking at.
MYERS: In Miami.
COSTELLO: Yes, exactly. On the back, Roger Clemens is asking for $22 million a year.
MYERS: He's got a new number on his jersey, 22.
COSTELLO: Twenty-two with a big dollar sign. And I guess Houston's only offering him, like, $13.5 million a year. So, there's a big gap in there.
MYERS: Yes.
COSTELLO: That's amazing.
MYERS: It's going to be a problem.
COSTELLO: That does it for us this morning. I'm Carol Costello along with Chad Myers. "AMERICAN MORNING" starts right now.
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Aired January 19, 2005 - 06:32 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. Welcome to the last half-hour of DAYBREAK. From the Time Warner center in New York, I'm Carol Costello, along with Chad Myers.
It has been a violent day in Iraq. A series of suicide car bombings have killed 25 people in Baghdad, most of them police officers. A 26th person was killed in Hilla.
Live now to Baghdad and Jeff Koinange. He has more details for us.
Hello -- Jeff.
JEFF KOINANGE, CNN LAGOS BUREAU CHIEF: Good morning there, Carol.
And there seems no letup to the wave of violence sweeping across Baghdad and beyond on this Wednesday.
First up, right outside the Australian embassy a suicide car bomber detonated himself, killing a bystander, wounding up to five. And we understand there are two Australian soldiers among the wounded.
Next up, less than half an hour later, a more powerful car bomb right outside the Iraqi Emergency Police headquarters. This one killed up to 18 people, including 13 Iraqi policemen, wounded up to 20.
Yet a third car bomb right outside an Iraqi military headquarters about a mile from where we're standing here. That one killed two Iraqi soldiers.
And yet a fourth bomb on the southern entrance to Baghdad killed four people, including two Iraqi policemen, and also one U.S. soldier was wounded in that incident.
So, there seems no letup to the campaign of violence in the run- up to the January 30 elections, now just 11 days away -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Jeff Koinange live in Baghdad this morning.
More than nine long hours of questioning and a few testy exchanges. We're talking about Condoleezza Rice's Senate hearings on her nomination as secretary of state.
Our Ed Henry has details on day one. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ED HENRY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Some of the sharpest questioning of Condoleezza Rice came from John Kerry, who had hoped to spend this week getting ready for his inauguration and putting the finishing touches on a Kerry cabinet. Instead, the former Democratic presidential nominee was grilling President Bush's pick for secretary of state about Iraq.
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: The current policy is growing the insurgency, not diminishing it. We went in to rescue Iraq from Saddam Hussein. Now, I think we have to rescue our policy from ourselves.
HENRY: Rice stood her ground, saying the world is better off with Saddam out of power, but she also tried to strike a conciliatory tone by acknowledging mistakes.
CONDOLEEZA RICE, SECRETARY OF STATE NOMINEE: This was never going to be easy. It was always going to have ups and downs. I'm sure that we have made multiple, many decisions, some of which were good, some of which might not have been good.
HENRY: The hearing grew even more tense when Democrat Barbara Boxer charged that Rice's loyalty to President Bush led to her hype the threat from Hussein in the build-up to war in Iraq.
SEN. BARBARA BOXER (D), CALIFORNIA: This is my personal view that your loyalty to the mission you were given to sell this war overwhelmed your respect for the truth.
HENRY: Rice bristled at the allegation.
RICE: I have to say that I have never, ever lost respect for the truth in the service of anything. I really hope that you will refrain from impugning my integrity.
HENRY: Rice said the administration is determined to force Iran and North Korea to abandon their nuclear ambitions, and vowed to confront major issues like peace in the Middle East.
RICE: America and the free world are once again engaged in a long-term struggle against an ideology of hatred and tyranny and terror and hopelessness. And we must confront these challenges with the same vision and the same courage and the same boldness that dominated our post-world war period.
HENRY (on camera): Despite the tough questions, Condoleezza Rice is expected to be easily confirmed by the Senate as early as Thursday, the same day President Bush will be inaugurated.
Ed Henry, CNN, Capitol Hill.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: They're back. After a mistrial, a second trial has begun for former Tyco Dennis Kozlowski and his chief financial officer, Mark Swartz. You surely remember how they're accused of using Tyco as their personal piggybank to buy things like a $6,000 shower curtain.
DAYBREAK contributor Ali Velshi is here to fill us in on what's happening today.
ALI VELSHI, CNN DAYBREAK CONTRIBUTOR: It is so cold that last night I was at Bed, Bath & Beyond to get a heater, and I was looking in the shower curtain section. Clearly, Dennis Kozlowski or whoever bought that shower curtain doesn't go to Bed, Bath & Beyond. It might as well be called the trial of the $6,000 shower curtain, because whether or not Dennis Kozlowski and Mark Swartz are convicted this time, that's what people are going to remember.
Prosecutors say the $6,000 shower curtain is symbolic of the way Dennis Kozlowski lived his life, buying lavish things and charging it to Tyco, the company he was in charge of. Things like a $5,000 bed skirt, that's your shower curtain we're talking about, half the cost of $2 million birthday party in Sardinia for his wife.
It all, when it adds up, comes out to about $600 million that Kozlowski and his former CFO are accused of looting from the company. They face 31 criminal counts between them, including some pretty serious ones, like first-degree larceny, falsifying business records and conspiracy.
As you pointed out, Carol, Kozlowski and Swartz have already been through one trial. That one lasted six months. It ended last April after a juror -- remember, this was a really interesting thing. A juror received a threatening phone call. The next day, the judge declared a mistrial.
Prosecutors were, at the time, criticized for putting on an overly complicated trial, focusing too much on these lavish spending habits. A lot of people said this case has its merits on its own.
So, this trial is complicated. It's expected to last up to four months. If convicted, the two men could face up to 30 years in prison.
Before the scandal broke, Tyco, one of the biggest companies in the country, was worth about $60 a share. After the scandal, it went as low as $10 a share.
COSTELLO: Wow!
VELSHI: And now trading around $35 a share. It's a big company. Unlike WorldCom, it didn't cripple the company.
COSTELLO: Interesting. You know, Dennis Kozlowski was interviewed by "The New York Times."
VELSHI: Yes.
COSTELLO: And in reading his comments, he says he's really being railroaded by this, because the $6,000 shower curtain, for example, he said he had no idea that someone bought that for his home.
VELSHI: Right.
COSTELLO: Because he doesn't do that.
VELSHI: Yes. I'd kind of notice if it were on my bill that somebody put a $6,000 shower curtain. But, you know, he made a lot of money...
COSTELLO: Well, he didn't check.
VELSHI: ... and didn't check when somebody else was doing it. So...
COSTELLO: But doesn't the bottom line come down if there's anything criminal done? I mean, if they didn't know they were doing anything wrong, per se...
VELSHI: Right.
COSTELLO: ... they could get off scot-free.
VELSHI: He also says the board approved of any expenses they put through. So, it's one of these complicated accounting things. Once again, whether it's WorldCom or it's Enron, it comes down to the fact that there is some accounting stuff in there, which does make it complicated, which is why it's a four-month trial and it doesn't end up being about the shower curtain.
But that's, of course, the stuff that gives us pictures to show people, because otherwise we'd have to show you buildings and guys walking in and out of court.
COSTELLO: Exactly. Thank you, Ali.
VELSHI: Sure.
COSTELLO: In news across America this morning, a man who sparked a four-hour standoff with federal agents near the White House will be arraigned this morning. Several area buildings were evacuated after 54-year-old Lowell Timmers threatened to ignite a substance in his parked van. The man was parked along the route of tomorrow's inaugural parade.
Saudi Arabia is off the hook in a major court case stemming from the 9/11 attacks. A federal judge in New York ruled that Saudi Arabia, the royal family and several Saudi banks could not be named as defendants in the case. The civil lawsuits allege that they helped fund Osama bin Laden and the al Qaeda terror network.
A military jet and a small plane collide over Oklahoma. The pilot of the small plane was killed. Two military pilots suffered only minor injuries when they ejected. They were on a training mission out of Sheppard Air Force Base in Texas.
Ever try to time your arrival at the movies so you miss the previews and all of the commercials? In three minutes, we'll look at legislation that may change the way movie times are listed.
And our very special guest this inaugural week, Charlie Brotman joins me to talk about his decades-long career as the voice that announces the president.
Here's a look at what else is making news this Wednesday morning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: You rush to the movie theater, barely getting there in time, or so you think. When the movie is supposed to start, you're treated instead to preview after preview, even to commercial after commercial.
Connecticut State Representative Andrew Fleischmann would like to change that, and he joins us live to explain.
Good morning.
REP. ANDREW FLEISCHMANN (D), WEST HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT: Good morning.
COSTELLO: Why tackle this issue?
FLEISCHMANN: Well, I've had constituents come to me and complain, and say, hey, it used to be that we had 5 or 10 minutes of previews. Now, we've got 20 to 25 minutes of previews and ads, and it's just not fair.
COSTELLO: So, what are you proposing?
FLEISCHMANN: My bill couldn't be simpler. It would simply require that movie theaters tell us the truth. And that in their ads and listings they provide the start time for the ads and trailers and also the start time for the actual film.
COSTELLO: But you know what the movie theaters are saying. They say they have to show these commercials and these previews to keep ticket prices down.
FLEISCHMANN: Well, I mean, the fact is that ticket prices haven't been kept down. In my neck of the woods, they're about 8.50 now. If you go to a big city, they're up to about 10.50. And I think we consumers have a right to know when the movie actually starts and a right to choose how many ads and trailers we sit through.
COSTELLO: Have you heard from your constituents how they really feel and how they react when they go into the movie theater and they see these long previews and commercial after commercial?
FLEISCHMANN: I just had a constituent approach me yesterday and thank me for putting in the bill, and say that he and his wife went to a movie this weekend and were subjected to more than 30 minutes of ads and previews. And he said, not only was it frustrating, not only did it feel like a waste of time, but they had had to hire an expensive sitter. So, it was literally costing them every minute they were sitting there. And he just thought it was ridiculous; that they should have known when the film actually started, so they wouldn't have had to rush so much.
COSTELLO: I've actually heard in some New York theaters people actually stand up and curse the movie screen when these previews start going on and on and on. Is there a lot of support for this? Do you think this bill will get through?
FLEISCHMANN: I think there's a tremendous amount of support among members of the public. There's always a challenge when you're proposing legislation, because, you know, industries are often powerful. In this case, movie theater operators, you know, they have lobbyists. They have industry associations. They've already been contacting the leadership of my general assembly trying to kill the bill early. They don't like the idea of someone trying to get them to tell the truth to their customers, because they're making a buck off of it.
But I really think it's important that we as consumers stand up and stand our ground. I do think that there's a reasonable chance that we'll get this through. The last time I saw a bill that got this kind of reaction was the do-not-call list, which started here in Connecticut. After we finally did get it passed, we had hundreds of thousands of people sign up to be on it, so that they could be free of telemarketing solicitations. And within a couple of years, there was federal legislation.
So, I'm hoping, given the sort of reaction I'm seeing from regular folks out there, that we get a similar course of progress on this legislation.
COSTELLO: Well, we will be following the progress of the bill. Representative Andrew Fleischmann from Connecticut, thank you for joining DAYBREAK this morning.
If you're planning to brave the cold and go to the inaugural parade tomorrow, you will hear a familiar voice. After the break, we'll be joined by Charlie Brotman. He is the voice of the inaugural parade.
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COSTELLO: No inauguration would be complete without the president and the president's announcer. For the past 44 years, Charlie Brotman has been the voice of the inaugural parade, announcing each step of the president and his family all the way from Capitol Hill to the White House.
Live to Washington now and the president's announcer.
Good morning, Charlie.
CHARLIE BROTMAN, INAUGURAL PARADE ANNOUNCER: Good morning. I think they want me to do it until I get it right. So, I'll be here for another 50 years. COSTELLO: No, no, no. I've heard you, and you're terrific every year. You know, it's going to be so cold this year. And, of course, each year everyone wonders if the president will follow Jimmy Carter's example and get out of his limo and walk the parade route. What's your guess in these tense times?
BROTMAN: What is happening now is that they want to be part of the general public. They want to appear like really nice human beings. So, I think what's going to happen, they will ride in the limo from the Capitol to 15th and Pennsylvania Avenue, and at 15th and Penn they'll get out of the car and walk to the presidential reviewing stand. That's my guess.
COSTELLO: And the crowd gets so excited when that happens.
BROTMAN: Absolutely. Secret Service has nervous breakdowns, but the spectators really enjoy it.
COSTELLO: Yes, they certainly do. You serve as the eyes and ears of the president as he makes his way to the White House. Explain why your words over the public address system are so important to the smooth running of this event.
BROTMAN: Well, what actually happens is that the president has a very unusually bad viewing area. He is street-level. I am up, like, three or four stories, and I can see what's coming. So, when I say, 'Ladies and gentlemen, the United States Marine Corps band marching towards the presidential viewing stand,' the president knows when to stand, when to salute, when to laugh. It's really exciting for him. But he can't see it, so he needs kind of a nudge, a verbal nudge, as to who's coming and who's going.
COSTELLO: And you very expertly provide that. You must have so many memories. We want the poignant ones. You must share the frozen hours of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the bands.
BROTMAN: Oh, boy.
COSTELLO: I heard one year the bands' lips froze to their instruments.
BROTMAN: You're right about having very many memories. I was a stadium announcer for a baseball team here in Washington, introduced the president throwing out the first ball. That was Eisenhower. Got a call from the White House, who said, "How would you like to introduce the president again?" And I said, 'I'd love to.' It was the inaugural in 1957, and I've been doing the announcing ever since.
But you're right. The parades are actually an extension of the president's personality. And so, what happens, if it were Eisenhower, a military man, no big deal. Let's get it over with. If it's someone like Kennedy, oh, boy, let's have a parade. This is going to be a festive occasion. And I think Reagan had the ultimate parade, and it was so exciting, because he brought Hollywood to Washington.
COSTELLO: Yes, he certainly...
BROTMAN: And Kennedy did have a problem, and the problem was the weather. It was so cold. How cold was it? Thirty-five degrees below zero with a wind chill. They had three feet of snow on Pennsylvania Avenue. They wanted to cancel the parade. However, the president does have his way. They got about 3,000 servicemen with flame throwers and trucks. And they cleared the streets, and we had a parade.
COSTELLO: But I did hear that Jackie Kennedy, like, ducked out, because she was too cold. And this was the one where the band -- where the instruments froze to their lips, because it was so cold.
BROTMAN: It's so incredible. You're right. Jackie stood in the inaugural parade area for one hour, got so cold and went back to the White House. Yes, it was Carter's inaugural parade, where it was so cold -- you know how you have saliva that's around your lips? And when the musicians are playing instruments, their lips were actually frozen to the mouthpiece. It sounds horrible, and it was. Oh, the first day you had a heyday.
COSTELLO: Oh, my goodness. Charlie Brotman, thank you so much. And we look forward to your announcing of the inaugural parade this year again.
BROTMAN: Oh, thank you.
COSTELLO: Charlie Brotman, thanks for joining DAYBREAK.
BROTMAN: Thanks a lot. It will be fun.
COSTELLO: I'm sure it will.
At 3:30 Eastern this afternoon CNN's Judy Woodruff and Wolf Blitzer lead our live inaugural coverage of "George W. Bush: The Road Ahead." Throughout the day tomorrow, we'll have complete coverage you will not want to miss.
This is DAYBREAK for a Wednesday morning.
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COSTELLO: You know, Chad, I hope it warms up for the inaugural parade.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It will be 30...
COSTELLO: Oh, that's not bad.
MYERS: ... and maybe even 37 by parade time. But there will be some snow showers in the air. The same kind of a clip where that's coming through now, Carol. This is just one of the first of many of these things. We're going to have, like, three of them before the end of the weekend, and an inch or two of snow. It moves on by, and then it's gone. And the temperatures really are not that bad; 30 degrees is not below zero. And the wind chill will be 20 at best. Not bad. COSTELLO: Oh, yes, 20. What's a 20-degree wind chill factor?
MYERS: It's still winter.
COSTELLO: I know. But that's still stinks.
MYERS: All right.
COSTELLO: Taking a look at the headlines this morning, Chad.
MYERS: Yes.
COSTELLO: This will interest you. It's in "The Wall Street Journal." You can have a time share on things like RVs, also corporate jets...
MYERS: Well, sure, corporate jets.
COSTELLO: ... yachts, Bentleys, so that you don't have to pay the entire cost. You can share it with, like, 9 or 10 other people.
MYERS: Hopefully they're clean people.
COSTELLO: Pardon? I didn't hear you.
MYERS: Hopefully they're clean people.
COSTELLO: Yes, hopefully so. They take care of things.
MYERS: Yes.
COSTELLO: In the "New York Post" this morning, Mike Piazza is getting married.
MYERS: Yes.
COSTELLO: Which should set all of those rumors aside. He's marrying that "Baywatch" babe that you're looking at.
MYERS: In Miami.
COSTELLO: Yes, exactly. On the back, Roger Clemens is asking for $22 million a year.
MYERS: He's got a new number on his jersey, 22.
COSTELLO: Twenty-two with a big dollar sign. And I guess Houston's only offering him, like, $13.5 million a year. So, there's a big gap in there.
MYERS: Yes.
COSTELLO: That's amazing.
MYERS: It's going to be a problem.
COSTELLO: That does it for us this morning. I'm Carol Costello along with Chad Myers. "AMERICAN MORNING" starts right now.
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