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CNN Live At Daybreak

Deep Throat Named as Mark Felt; 'Business Buzz'

Aired June 01, 2005 - 06:30   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.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: In the next half-hour of DAYBREAK, in the movies, he lurked in smoke-filled shadows. Now the smoke surrounding Deep Throat has cleared.
And you think you're in tune when it comes to online shopping? Think again.

You are watching DAYBREAK for a Wednesday morning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: From the Time Warner center in New York, you're watching DAYBREAK.

COSTELLO: Good morning, everyone. Thank you for waking up with us.

Coming up this half-hour, one of history's mysteries revealed. A former G-man is the man of the hour.

But first, "Now in the News."

Several people were hurt during a suicide car bombing near a main checkpoint in Iraq. The blast went off this morning near the Baghdad base that houses U.S. military headquarters in the international airport.

A deadly explosion in southern Afghanistan this morning. It went off inside a mosque in Kandahar, killing at least 14 people and wounding 40. The victims were attending a funeral for an assassinated cleric.

You can learn something from this British couple. Percy and Florence Aerosmith (ph) have been married for 80 years, which is a world record. They're also the world's oldest married couple. Percy (ph) says the secret to being married that long can be summed up in two words: Yes, dear. I still think the petting of the head has something to do with it as well.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: The secret is out. Former FBI associate director Mark Felt has revealed that he is the Watergate source known as Deep Throat. His inside information to "The Washington Post" is credited with bringing down Richard Nixon's presidency.

This is what the "Post" has to say about Felt in this morning's edition, and I quote: "Felt's repeated denials, and the stalwart silence of the reporters he aided -- Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein -- kept the cloak of mystery drawn up around Deep Throat. In place of a name and a face, the source acquired a magic and a mystique. He was the romantic truth teller, half hidden in the shadows of a Washington- area parking garage."

But just who is Mark Felt? And what compelled him to become the most famous secret source in American history?

CNN's "INSIDE POLITICS" Judy Woodruff takes a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: Meet the answer to one of the greatest American riddles. This 91-year-old California retiree is the secret source who used to meet Bob Woodward in dimly-lit garages more than 30 years ago, who famously told the young reporter to...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just follow the money.

WOODRUFF: ... and who helped topple a president.

RICHARD NIXON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I shall resign the presidency effective at noon tomorrow.

WOODRUFF: Woodward called him "Deep Throat," a homage to the blockbuster porn movie. His true identity had never been revealed or uncovered, but now we know.

"Deep Throat" is Mark Felt, the number two man at the FBI in the Nixon era. Woodward confirmed it with former "Post" editor Ben Bradlee, one of three men in on the secret, saying, "The number-two guy at the FBI, that was a pretty good source."

"Vanity Fair" broke the news in a splashy article. Felt reportedly told the writer, attorney John O'Connor, "I'm the guy they called 'Deep Throat.'" Unlike other "Throat" suspects, Felt isn't a household name, but he's long been a favorite pick of Watergate aficionados.

A protege of J. Edgar Hoover, Felt oversaw the investigation into the Watergate break-in, had access to lots of sensitive information.

He had another role, too, an ironic one. The president's men tapped him to ferret out press leaks. He refused. In his own 1979 memoir, Felt wrote, "It was this sequence of events which led both the White House staff and top Justice Department officials to the conclusion that I was 'Deep Throat.'"

In fact, Nixon's chief of staff, Bob Haldeman, fingered Felt for the president. Felt denied it then and many times since. But the "Vanity Fair" report says Felt eventually came clean to his own family, told them he hated how Nixon was manipulating the FBI, that he spilled secrets to protect the institution.

Woodward told "The Post," Felt had hoped to take over the FBI upon Hoover's death. He was passed over. So he retired from the FBI in 1973, before Richard Nixon was forced from the White House.

In 1978, the former agent was indicted for approving other Nixon- era break-ins, raids on leftist anti-war groups. He was convicted and later pardoned by Ronald Reagan. And then, Mark Felt slipped into obscurity, until now.

Judy Woodruff, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Maybe most of you are old enough to remember the images from the Watergate era. Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein were the young reporters that broke the story of a lifetime.

The story behind the story became a great movie in 1976 starring Robert Redford, Dustin Hoffman and Howell Holbrooke. You heard Judy say Holbrooke played the infamous Deep Throat.

And he had this to say about the real-life character.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HAL HOLBROOKE, PLAYED "DEEP THROAT": He was doing it, because there was a higher purpose involved. People should get this in their brain today. The important thing here is not who it was, but why he did it. It's called morality. That's something that's not very popular today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: A lot of articles in "The Washington Post" this morning. Bob Woodward is expected to write a lengthy article about Mr. Felt that will appear in Thursday's edition of "The Washington Post."

The mystery of Deep Throat, of course, began with those two reporters at "The Washington Post," but that's not exactly where it ended.

CNN's Bill Hemmer joins us now for a look at what's coming up on "AMERICAN MORNING."

Good morning.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, Carol, good morning.

How would you like to be a fly on the wall at the "Post" the last couple of days, huh?

COSTELLO: I would love it.

HEMMER: It must have been a very long weekend there. What was going on inside with that newspaper when that story broke? We'll talk with an insider coming up this morning. David Vondrale (ph) wrote the cover piece this morning above the full for the "Post." And we'll try and pick David's brain about what was happening throughout the weekend here -- at "The Washington Post," rather.

Also, Carol, it is June 1 on the calendar. Today, we have a visit from a CNN original. Former anchor Bernie Shaw is with me live, sharing his fondest memories, where it was this day, which was June 1, 1980 down in Washington. See the guy in the background there, Carol? He's got a blue shirt on, and he's back over the shoulder of Bernie Shaw?

COSTELLO: Yes.

HEMMER: He was still working on the newsroom the day we went on the air, hammering nails. But since that time, you know, Bernie, he went to Tiananmen Square when the crackdown was announced there. He was in Baghdad in January of 1991 when the first Persian War broke out. He has lived his life in Washington around the heartbeat of all of the major and significant news in that city, and this country for that matter, for decades. And he will reflect today on his memories of CNN, 25 years down the road, June 1, 1980.

See you at the top of the hour -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. I can't wait. Thank you, Bill.

HEMMER: OK, bye.

COSTELLO: Still to come, do you shop much online? Then you will want to hear why companies are charging you more.

And an update on the mermaid baby as doctors try to give her a normal life.

But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Wednesday.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: A look now at the international markets. Tokyo's Nikkei is up by 53 points, the London FTSE up by more than 12, almost 13 points, the German DAX up 18.5 points.

It's time now for a little "Business Buzz." Carrie Lee joins us once again with some interesting facts about shopping, especially if you're looking for a bargain. Did you know an Internet site can charge Carrie and I different prices for the same item?

How can that be?

CARRIE LEE, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Well, it depends on who the better customer is, Carol. You know, you think about this in other industries. Credit card companies charge different rates. So, the principle here is really the same.

There is a new study here showing that it is legal for online sites and offline stores to charge different customers different prices for the same items. Retailers can offer cheaper prices to its more frequent customers but cannot charge the prices based on race or gender.

A couple of more things you may not have known. All of this coming from a study by the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania. A Web site that has a privacy policy doesn't always protect your privacy. It just means it will disclose to you how it uses your information. So, a little sticking point there.

COSTELLO: That is so bogus!

LEE: I know. Also, your bank is allowed to sharing information about you with the companies it owns. Your grocery store is allowed to sell information about what you buy. But your video store cannot. It is illegal for them to sell information about the titles you rent, but it can sell your name and address.

This Annenberg Center study shows most Americans are unaware of these facts. So, now they know, if they're watching this program.

COSTELLO: And, you know, the sad part is there is probably nothing we can do about it.

LEE: Well, you know, you can always read the fine print, right? You can always find out what the policy is. And comparison shop if you're really looking for the best price. That's the great thing about the Internet. You can go to different sites and try to compare relatively quickly. So, I'm trying to keep the upside here.

COSTELLO: The glass is half-full, we like that.

LEE: Right.

COSTELLO: Carrie Lee, thank you.

LEE: OK.

COSTELLO: Looking back, were they really all that secret? We'll talk to a reporter who has been guessing right for years about the identity of Deep Throat.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: It's out, and we just have to talk more about it. A secret that lasted three decades is finally revealed. This man, Mark Felt, the former number two at the FBI, was the source for the stories that brought down Richard Nixon's presidency.

Joining us live from Washington is journalist Tim Noah, a writer for slate.com. He suspected Mark Felt was indeed Deep Throat and interviewed him.

This is amazing. You have an amazing story. Tell us about the answering machine message. I like that the best.

TIM NOAH, SLATE.COM: Well, yes. His daughter, when I called six years ago to ask Mark Felt is he was Deep Throat, I got an answering machine, saying -- I can't recall the precise words, but it said, if you want to leave a message for Mark Felt or his daughter or Deep Throat, do so after the beep.

His daughter had suspected that her father was Deep Throat for a number of years. I can attest that back in 1999, she was wondering about this. She wondered about it to me.

But Felt was denying it at the time. He said, I was absolutely not Deep Throat. I don't think that the source was somebody inside the FBI.

And I asked him, I said, 'Well, would it be such a terrible thing to be Deep Throat?' And he said, yes, it would be. It's a terrible thing to do to the FBI, to leak details of a criminal investigation.

COSTELLO: You know, let's talk more about the psychology behind this, because a lot of people don't understand why he waited so very long. You know, he's 91 years old now. This happened such a long time ago. That's a lot of guilt to be carrying around all these years.

NOAH: Yes, I think that he really -- he spent his career at the FBI, and I think he feels that he betrayed the agency.

Also, there were some bureaucratic motives in his leaking that make him look a little less heroic than perhaps we imagined Deep Throat to be. The White House was trying to rein in the FBI, which had been run by FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover. And the FBI was running wild. It was doing all sorts of criminal things. Felt himself was prosecuted a few years later for approving some searches that did not have warrants. He was later pardoned by Ronald Reagan.

So, it was an agency that was out of control. And Hoover died a month before the Watergate break-in. The FBI was worried that the Nixon White House would rein them in, not only rein them in but use them for political purposes, which the Nixon White House did, in fact, do. And so, he was fighting back as a bureaucratic would.

COSTELLO: I want to play you a clip of what John Dean, the former Nixon counsel, had to say. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN DEAN, FMR. NIXON WHITE HOUSE COUNSEL: There's a very good possibility what he was doing is an obstruction of justice as well. So, why would this man commit this crime?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Which is interesting, because John Dean went to prison for obstructing justice, but...

NOAH: Well, there is this wild thing. I was talking to a lawyer about it yesterday, that, yes, the actual crime, if you were to be prosecuted for this, would be obstruction of justice. The irony, of course, is that justice was being obstructed quite powerfully by his higher-ups. And he was not obstructing justice. He was making it possible in some ways by helping Woodward and Bernstein confirm some of the details of their stories about Watergate.

COSTELLO: Oh, it's just so fascinating. A last question for you. There are some who believe that Mr. Felt is Deep Throat, but there were many other sources out there. He was sort of the central figure in a wide cast of sources.

NOAH: That's right. I mean, we have to remember that people have this simplistic notion that Deep Throat was the guy who told all about Watergate. And all Woodward and Bernstein had to do was call him up, and he would write their stories for them. They had a number of sources, a number of anonymous sources as well.

Deep Throat was used to confirm certain facts that they had gotten elsewhere. He was one of a number of sources. He was a very important source and obviously a very high-up source. But he was not the guy who told this story to America. He was one of several people who did.

COSTELLO: And we'll know more in tomorrow's edition of "The Washington Post," because Bob Woodward is expected to write a long article. And it will appear tomorrow in "The Washington Post."

Tim Noah from slate.com joining us this morning. Thank you.

NOAH: Thank you.

COSTELLO: It is 6:52 Eastern. Here is what will be making news today.

She's been called the little mermaid. Now, she's gotten her land legs back. This morning, doctors in Peru successfully separated a baby girl's fused legs. The operation took four-and-a-half hours.

Paul Wolfowitz takes it to the bank today. The former number two man at the Pentagon starts a five-year term as head of the World Bank. Several groups are planning protests.

And finally, don't like the way your kids eat? The good news is you can train them to eat better and lose weight. A study being released today finds that with just simple training, 8 and 10 year olds learn to eat healthier for three years running.

Now, you want to talk about a vacation splurge? How about a hotel suite for four grand a night? Chad, are you listening?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: No, I'm not. I can't afford that.

COSTELLO: This is crazy. Designer Vero Wang as known for her beautiful and pricey clothes. You know that.

MYERS: Yes.

COSTELLO: Well, now you can head to Hawaii and relax at the Vera Wang Suite at resort on Waikiki.

MYERS: Oh, look at that Diamondhead in the back there.

COSTELLO: Yes. The bathroom includes a 16-airjet tub for two that, as you said, looks onto Diamondhead. There is furniture and art collected from around the world, plus two big-screen plasma TVs. And, get this, Chad.

MYERS: Yes?

COSTELLO: A 24-hour butler.

MYERS: Oh, nice.

COSTELLO: Four thousand a night.

MYERS: Wow! That's at the Hali Kilani (ph), by the way.

COSTELLO: It's beautiful, though, isn't it?

MYERS: It is. I like Waikiki. I stayed there a couple of nights. But I think the other islands are pretty awesome as well.

COSTELLO: Well, you know, we wish we could give away one of those $4,000 a night rooms, but instead we're giving away this $5 coffee mug.

MYERS: It was 9.97 wholesale, Carol. Here are the questions from yesterday. The U.S. claims Airbus got an illegal subsidy from the European Union. And in 2004, what percentage of MBA students surveyed had job offers before graduation? That number is 42 percent, with big money, too, with those offers.

Julie Britton from Columbus, Ohio, had both answers correct. She answered them correctly. Julie, congratulations. Thank you.

Now your questions for today. We've been talking about the man known as Deep Throat, Mark Felt, obviously. He was the number two man at the FBI during the Nixon administration. Who was appointed the number one man?

COSTELLO: Oh.

MYERS: And we talked to a judge in Kentucky about his alternative sentence for jail. Was it Kentucky?

COSTELLO: Yes.

MYERS: What is his option to going to jail for some inmates?

Submit your answers to CNN.com/daybreak -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Interesting. Thank you, Chad.

When we come back, more headlines and a look at your travel forecast. You are watching DAYBREAK for a Wednesday morning. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: "Now in the News."

An explosion at a key site in Baghdad. A suicide car bomb went off near the base that houses U.S. military headquarters in the airport. More than a dozen people hurt.

The Indonesian embassy in Australia is closed after getting a suspicious package that contained a biological agent. Australia's foreign minister confirmed the package contents in an address to the parliament.

It could be a long summer for people on the East Coast. Today is the first day of hurricane season. And Chad says there could be more hurricane activity this year than last. But, Chad, this time we hope you're wrong.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: From the Time Warner center in New York, I'm Carol Costello, along with Chad Myers. "AMERICAN MORNING" starts right now.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.


Aired June 1, 2005 - 06:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: In the next half-hour of DAYBREAK, in the movies, he lurked in smoke-filled shadows. Now the smoke surrounding Deep Throat has cleared.
And you think you're in tune when it comes to online shopping? Think again.

You are watching DAYBREAK for a Wednesday morning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: From the Time Warner center in New York, you're watching DAYBREAK.

COSTELLO: Good morning, everyone. Thank you for waking up with us.

Coming up this half-hour, one of history's mysteries revealed. A former G-man is the man of the hour.

But first, "Now in the News."

Several people were hurt during a suicide car bombing near a main checkpoint in Iraq. The blast went off this morning near the Baghdad base that houses U.S. military headquarters in the international airport.

A deadly explosion in southern Afghanistan this morning. It went off inside a mosque in Kandahar, killing at least 14 people and wounding 40. The victims were attending a funeral for an assassinated cleric.

You can learn something from this British couple. Percy and Florence Aerosmith (ph) have been married for 80 years, which is a world record. They're also the world's oldest married couple. Percy (ph) says the secret to being married that long can be summed up in two words: Yes, dear. I still think the petting of the head has something to do with it as well.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: The secret is out. Former FBI associate director Mark Felt has revealed that he is the Watergate source known as Deep Throat. His inside information to "The Washington Post" is credited with bringing down Richard Nixon's presidency.

This is what the "Post" has to say about Felt in this morning's edition, and I quote: "Felt's repeated denials, and the stalwart silence of the reporters he aided -- Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein -- kept the cloak of mystery drawn up around Deep Throat. In place of a name and a face, the source acquired a magic and a mystique. He was the romantic truth teller, half hidden in the shadows of a Washington- area parking garage."

But just who is Mark Felt? And what compelled him to become the most famous secret source in American history?

CNN's "INSIDE POLITICS" Judy Woodruff takes a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: Meet the answer to one of the greatest American riddles. This 91-year-old California retiree is the secret source who used to meet Bob Woodward in dimly-lit garages more than 30 years ago, who famously told the young reporter to...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just follow the money.

WOODRUFF: ... and who helped topple a president.

RICHARD NIXON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I shall resign the presidency effective at noon tomorrow.

WOODRUFF: Woodward called him "Deep Throat," a homage to the blockbuster porn movie. His true identity had never been revealed or uncovered, but now we know.

"Deep Throat" is Mark Felt, the number two man at the FBI in the Nixon era. Woodward confirmed it with former "Post" editor Ben Bradlee, one of three men in on the secret, saying, "The number-two guy at the FBI, that was a pretty good source."

"Vanity Fair" broke the news in a splashy article. Felt reportedly told the writer, attorney John O'Connor, "I'm the guy they called 'Deep Throat.'" Unlike other "Throat" suspects, Felt isn't a household name, but he's long been a favorite pick of Watergate aficionados.

A protege of J. Edgar Hoover, Felt oversaw the investigation into the Watergate break-in, had access to lots of sensitive information.

He had another role, too, an ironic one. The president's men tapped him to ferret out press leaks. He refused. In his own 1979 memoir, Felt wrote, "It was this sequence of events which led both the White House staff and top Justice Department officials to the conclusion that I was 'Deep Throat.'"

In fact, Nixon's chief of staff, Bob Haldeman, fingered Felt for the president. Felt denied it then and many times since. But the "Vanity Fair" report says Felt eventually came clean to his own family, told them he hated how Nixon was manipulating the FBI, that he spilled secrets to protect the institution.

Woodward told "The Post," Felt had hoped to take over the FBI upon Hoover's death. He was passed over. So he retired from the FBI in 1973, before Richard Nixon was forced from the White House.

In 1978, the former agent was indicted for approving other Nixon- era break-ins, raids on leftist anti-war groups. He was convicted and later pardoned by Ronald Reagan. And then, Mark Felt slipped into obscurity, until now.

Judy Woodruff, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Maybe most of you are old enough to remember the images from the Watergate era. Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein were the young reporters that broke the story of a lifetime.

The story behind the story became a great movie in 1976 starring Robert Redford, Dustin Hoffman and Howell Holbrooke. You heard Judy say Holbrooke played the infamous Deep Throat.

And he had this to say about the real-life character.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HAL HOLBROOKE, PLAYED "DEEP THROAT": He was doing it, because there was a higher purpose involved. People should get this in their brain today. The important thing here is not who it was, but why he did it. It's called morality. That's something that's not very popular today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: A lot of articles in "The Washington Post" this morning. Bob Woodward is expected to write a lengthy article about Mr. Felt that will appear in Thursday's edition of "The Washington Post."

The mystery of Deep Throat, of course, began with those two reporters at "The Washington Post," but that's not exactly where it ended.

CNN's Bill Hemmer joins us now for a look at what's coming up on "AMERICAN MORNING."

Good morning.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, Carol, good morning.

How would you like to be a fly on the wall at the "Post" the last couple of days, huh?

COSTELLO: I would love it.

HEMMER: It must have been a very long weekend there. What was going on inside with that newspaper when that story broke? We'll talk with an insider coming up this morning. David Vondrale (ph) wrote the cover piece this morning above the full for the "Post." And we'll try and pick David's brain about what was happening throughout the weekend here -- at "The Washington Post," rather.

Also, Carol, it is June 1 on the calendar. Today, we have a visit from a CNN original. Former anchor Bernie Shaw is with me live, sharing his fondest memories, where it was this day, which was June 1, 1980 down in Washington. See the guy in the background there, Carol? He's got a blue shirt on, and he's back over the shoulder of Bernie Shaw?

COSTELLO: Yes.

HEMMER: He was still working on the newsroom the day we went on the air, hammering nails. But since that time, you know, Bernie, he went to Tiananmen Square when the crackdown was announced there. He was in Baghdad in January of 1991 when the first Persian War broke out. He has lived his life in Washington around the heartbeat of all of the major and significant news in that city, and this country for that matter, for decades. And he will reflect today on his memories of CNN, 25 years down the road, June 1, 1980.

See you at the top of the hour -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. I can't wait. Thank you, Bill.

HEMMER: OK, bye.

COSTELLO: Still to come, do you shop much online? Then you will want to hear why companies are charging you more.

And an update on the mermaid baby as doctors try to give her a normal life.

But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Wednesday.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: A look now at the international markets. Tokyo's Nikkei is up by 53 points, the London FTSE up by more than 12, almost 13 points, the German DAX up 18.5 points.

It's time now for a little "Business Buzz." Carrie Lee joins us once again with some interesting facts about shopping, especially if you're looking for a bargain. Did you know an Internet site can charge Carrie and I different prices for the same item?

How can that be?

CARRIE LEE, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Well, it depends on who the better customer is, Carol. You know, you think about this in other industries. Credit card companies charge different rates. So, the principle here is really the same.

There is a new study here showing that it is legal for online sites and offline stores to charge different customers different prices for the same items. Retailers can offer cheaper prices to its more frequent customers but cannot charge the prices based on race or gender.

A couple of more things you may not have known. All of this coming from a study by the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania. A Web site that has a privacy policy doesn't always protect your privacy. It just means it will disclose to you how it uses your information. So, a little sticking point there.

COSTELLO: That is so bogus!

LEE: I know. Also, your bank is allowed to sharing information about you with the companies it owns. Your grocery store is allowed to sell information about what you buy. But your video store cannot. It is illegal for them to sell information about the titles you rent, but it can sell your name and address.

This Annenberg Center study shows most Americans are unaware of these facts. So, now they know, if they're watching this program.

COSTELLO: And, you know, the sad part is there is probably nothing we can do about it.

LEE: Well, you know, you can always read the fine print, right? You can always find out what the policy is. And comparison shop if you're really looking for the best price. That's the great thing about the Internet. You can go to different sites and try to compare relatively quickly. So, I'm trying to keep the upside here.

COSTELLO: The glass is half-full, we like that.

LEE: Right.

COSTELLO: Carrie Lee, thank you.

LEE: OK.

COSTELLO: Looking back, were they really all that secret? We'll talk to a reporter who has been guessing right for years about the identity of Deep Throat.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: It's out, and we just have to talk more about it. A secret that lasted three decades is finally revealed. This man, Mark Felt, the former number two at the FBI, was the source for the stories that brought down Richard Nixon's presidency.

Joining us live from Washington is journalist Tim Noah, a writer for slate.com. He suspected Mark Felt was indeed Deep Throat and interviewed him.

This is amazing. You have an amazing story. Tell us about the answering machine message. I like that the best.

TIM NOAH, SLATE.COM: Well, yes. His daughter, when I called six years ago to ask Mark Felt is he was Deep Throat, I got an answering machine, saying -- I can't recall the precise words, but it said, if you want to leave a message for Mark Felt or his daughter or Deep Throat, do so after the beep.

His daughter had suspected that her father was Deep Throat for a number of years. I can attest that back in 1999, she was wondering about this. She wondered about it to me.

But Felt was denying it at the time. He said, I was absolutely not Deep Throat. I don't think that the source was somebody inside the FBI.

And I asked him, I said, 'Well, would it be such a terrible thing to be Deep Throat?' And he said, yes, it would be. It's a terrible thing to do to the FBI, to leak details of a criminal investigation.

COSTELLO: You know, let's talk more about the psychology behind this, because a lot of people don't understand why he waited so very long. You know, he's 91 years old now. This happened such a long time ago. That's a lot of guilt to be carrying around all these years.

NOAH: Yes, I think that he really -- he spent his career at the FBI, and I think he feels that he betrayed the agency.

Also, there were some bureaucratic motives in his leaking that make him look a little less heroic than perhaps we imagined Deep Throat to be. The White House was trying to rein in the FBI, which had been run by FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover. And the FBI was running wild. It was doing all sorts of criminal things. Felt himself was prosecuted a few years later for approving some searches that did not have warrants. He was later pardoned by Ronald Reagan.

So, it was an agency that was out of control. And Hoover died a month before the Watergate break-in. The FBI was worried that the Nixon White House would rein them in, not only rein them in but use them for political purposes, which the Nixon White House did, in fact, do. And so, he was fighting back as a bureaucratic would.

COSTELLO: I want to play you a clip of what John Dean, the former Nixon counsel, had to say. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN DEAN, FMR. NIXON WHITE HOUSE COUNSEL: There's a very good possibility what he was doing is an obstruction of justice as well. So, why would this man commit this crime?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Which is interesting, because John Dean went to prison for obstructing justice, but...

NOAH: Well, there is this wild thing. I was talking to a lawyer about it yesterday, that, yes, the actual crime, if you were to be prosecuted for this, would be obstruction of justice. The irony, of course, is that justice was being obstructed quite powerfully by his higher-ups. And he was not obstructing justice. He was making it possible in some ways by helping Woodward and Bernstein confirm some of the details of their stories about Watergate.

COSTELLO: Oh, it's just so fascinating. A last question for you. There are some who believe that Mr. Felt is Deep Throat, but there were many other sources out there. He was sort of the central figure in a wide cast of sources.

NOAH: That's right. I mean, we have to remember that people have this simplistic notion that Deep Throat was the guy who told all about Watergate. And all Woodward and Bernstein had to do was call him up, and he would write their stories for them. They had a number of sources, a number of anonymous sources as well.

Deep Throat was used to confirm certain facts that they had gotten elsewhere. He was one of a number of sources. He was a very important source and obviously a very high-up source. But he was not the guy who told this story to America. He was one of several people who did.

COSTELLO: And we'll know more in tomorrow's edition of "The Washington Post," because Bob Woodward is expected to write a long article. And it will appear tomorrow in "The Washington Post."

Tim Noah from slate.com joining us this morning. Thank you.

NOAH: Thank you.

COSTELLO: It is 6:52 Eastern. Here is what will be making news today.

She's been called the little mermaid. Now, she's gotten her land legs back. This morning, doctors in Peru successfully separated a baby girl's fused legs. The operation took four-and-a-half hours.

Paul Wolfowitz takes it to the bank today. The former number two man at the Pentagon starts a five-year term as head of the World Bank. Several groups are planning protests.

And finally, don't like the way your kids eat? The good news is you can train them to eat better and lose weight. A study being released today finds that with just simple training, 8 and 10 year olds learn to eat healthier for three years running.

Now, you want to talk about a vacation splurge? How about a hotel suite for four grand a night? Chad, are you listening?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: No, I'm not. I can't afford that.

COSTELLO: This is crazy. Designer Vero Wang as known for her beautiful and pricey clothes. You know that.

MYERS: Yes.

COSTELLO: Well, now you can head to Hawaii and relax at the Vera Wang Suite at resort on Waikiki.

MYERS: Oh, look at that Diamondhead in the back there.

COSTELLO: Yes. The bathroom includes a 16-airjet tub for two that, as you said, looks onto Diamondhead. There is furniture and art collected from around the world, plus two big-screen plasma TVs. And, get this, Chad.

MYERS: Yes?

COSTELLO: A 24-hour butler.

MYERS: Oh, nice.

COSTELLO: Four thousand a night.

MYERS: Wow! That's at the Hali Kilani (ph), by the way.

COSTELLO: It's beautiful, though, isn't it?

MYERS: It is. I like Waikiki. I stayed there a couple of nights. But I think the other islands are pretty awesome as well.

COSTELLO: Well, you know, we wish we could give away one of those $4,000 a night rooms, but instead we're giving away this $5 coffee mug.

MYERS: It was 9.97 wholesale, Carol. Here are the questions from yesterday. The U.S. claims Airbus got an illegal subsidy from the European Union. And in 2004, what percentage of MBA students surveyed had job offers before graduation? That number is 42 percent, with big money, too, with those offers.

Julie Britton from Columbus, Ohio, had both answers correct. She answered them correctly. Julie, congratulations. Thank you.

Now your questions for today. We've been talking about the man known as Deep Throat, Mark Felt, obviously. He was the number two man at the FBI during the Nixon administration. Who was appointed the number one man?

COSTELLO: Oh.

MYERS: And we talked to a judge in Kentucky about his alternative sentence for jail. Was it Kentucky?

COSTELLO: Yes.

MYERS: What is his option to going to jail for some inmates?

Submit your answers to CNN.com/daybreak -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Interesting. Thank you, Chad.

When we come back, more headlines and a look at your travel forecast. You are watching DAYBREAK for a Wednesday morning. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: "Now in the News."

An explosion at a key site in Baghdad. A suicide car bomb went off near the base that houses U.S. military headquarters in the airport. More than a dozen people hurt.

The Indonesian embassy in Australia is closed after getting a suspicious package that contained a biological agent. Australia's foreign minister confirmed the package contents in an address to the parliament.

It could be a long summer for people on the East Coast. Today is the first day of hurricane season. And Chad says there could be more hurricane activity this year than last. But, Chad, this time we hope you're wrong.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: From the Time Warner center in New York, I'm Carol Costello, along with Chad Myers. "AMERICAN MORNING" starts right now.

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