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CNN Live At Daybreak
Rehnquist To Stay on High Court; Karl Rove, CIA Leak; London Bombing Probe
Aired July 15, 2005 - 06:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANNOUNCER: From the CNN center in Atlanta, this is DAYBREAK, with Fredricka Whitfield.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning again, everyone. Thanks for waking up with us. I'm Fredricka Whitfield, in for Carol Costello this morning.
Coming up this half-hour, we'll take you through the CIA leak case that has Democrats nipping at Karl Rove's heels.
Also, which airports are easier on travelers? We'll take a closer look at those long security lines and tell you which airports get you on the way without much of a wait.
But first, "Now in the News."
Five Iraqi civilians are dead after a string of car bombs in Baghdad. Eleven more people were hurt in the blast, including two U.S. soldiers. Baghdad police said car bombs hit two Iraqi army convoys only 15 minutes apart. The U.S. troops were wounded when a suicide bomber targeted their Bradley Fighting Vehicle.
CNN has learned that the London bombings may have been a continuation of a plot that British police spoiled last year. In that case, eight British Muslims were arrested and a half-ton of explosive material confiscated.
The man at the center of the athletic steroids controversy plans to seek a deal later today. Victor Conti (ph) is the founder of the San Francisco Bay Area Lab that allegedly supplied steroids to several top athletes.
(WEATHER REPORT)
WHITFIELD: Chief Justice William Rehnquist says he's staying put. He issued a statement aimed at ending rumors of his retirement. But the chief justice says he'll only stay as long as his health permits.
For more on Rehnquist's comments, we're joined by CNN's Bob Franken in Washington.
Good morning to you -- Bob.
BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Fredricka. WHITFIELD: And so how is the chief justice doing? We know he was released from the hospital. Health-wise, how is he?
FRANKEN: Well, strong enough, he says, to continue at the Supreme Court. He says, I'm going to continue to perform my duties at chief justice as long as my health permits. It was kind of a petulant statement that he put out. I want to put to rest the speculation and unfounded rumors of my imminent retirement. That sounds a bit like Mark Twain.
The chief justice has probably gotten a little bit perplexed at seeing those camera crews outside his house.
WHITFIELD: And a little irritated.
FRANKEN: Yes. Well, I can tell you he's a lot irritated.
WHITFIELD: Yes.
FRANKEN: And so, he put out this statement. Of course, among the unfounded rumors and uninformed speculation would be reports that have circulated throughout the media for the last couple of weeks that have been going on about the chief justice. So, he's saying, in effect, in very judicial terms, forget about it.
WHITFIELD: Yes. He's saying, you know, just, yes, forget about it, just like you said. Now, meantime, there are some folks on the Hill who are trying to pressure Justice O'Connor to perhaps reconsider, in maybe an awkward moment, asking her to reconsider and maybe even think about the chief justice -- becoming a chief justice. And here just hours then later, the chief justice says, I'm not going anywhere.
FRANKEN: So, forget about that too.
WHITFIELD: Yes.
FRANKEN: Now, what this does is it uncomplicates but complicates, believe it or not, the nomination battle over O'Connor's replacement. On the one hand, there was a feeling that if there were two appointments out there, it might make it easier to find some sort of compromise in these two widely separated sides here. Now, it's going all be focused on one, and you can expect a battle royal this summer over the O'Connor replacement.
WHITFIELD: Yes. Meantime, you know, back to the health issue of Chief Rehnquist, he was being hospitalized for a fever. Was it related or not to his ongoing treatment of thyroid cancer?
FRANKEN: Can't really say that. But doctors say that that kind of thing -- remember, he had a tracheotomy -- oftentimes causes sporadic infections. And those infections bring with it a fever. And that is the most wide guess. But, again, we're always still talking guess.
WHITFIELD: Yes. FRANKEN: And with the chief justice, as far as the guess about what he's going to do, this is what he's not going to do, and that's resign.
WHITFIELD: All right, Bob Franken, thanks so much, from Washington this morning.
Well, new information now on the other big story generating lots of speculation in Washington: presidential strategist Karl Rove's alleged involvement in the outing of a CIA spy. Rove reportedly told a grand jury that he learned the identity of the CIA operative from reporters, including columnist and CNN political analyst Robert Novak, not the other way around.
President Bush is standing by his man amid a federal criminal investigation into who leaked Valerie Plame's name. Her husband, former ambassador Joe Wilson, is calling on President Bush to fire Rove for the alleged leak.
Some say it's a burgeoning scandal on the scale of Watergate. Others dismiss it as partisan sniping. Whatever else it may be, the controversy surrounding the leak is an intriguing and complex story.
CNN's Wolf Blitzer takes us back now to how it all began.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In his January, 2003 State of Union speech, President Bush, building the case for war with Iraq, insinuated Saddam Hussein was trying to build nuclear weapons.
March 20, coalition forces invade Iraq. May 1, the president announces major operations over.
On July 6, 2003, Joe Wilson, the former U.S. ambassador to Gabon, wrote in a "New York Times" opinion piece that he had traveled to Africa in February, 2002, to investigate similar allegations for the CIA. His conclusion: It was -- quote -- "highly doubtful that such a transaction would have occurred."
On July 14, CNN political analyst Robert Novak wrote in his "Chicago Sun-Times" column: "Wilson never worked for the CIA. But his wife, Valerie Plame, is an agency operative on weapons of mass destruction. Two senior administration officials told me that Wilson's wife suggested sending him to Niger to investigate."
And that's where the possible criminal case begins. Under a 1982 law, it's a crime to reveal the name of an undercover CIA agent.
But the burden of proof is high. Among other things, the disclosure must reveal the identity of a covert agent. It must be intentional. It must be made by someone with authorized access to classified information. And the source must be aware that the information disclosed will reveal the identity of the covert agent.
In September, 2003, nearly three months after Novak's column, the Justice Department opened an investigation.
There were early suspicions that the White House was behind the leak, perhaps the president's top advisor, Karl Rove. Press secretary Scott McClellan was dismissive.
SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: It's totally ridiculous. I said it's totally ridiculous.
BLITZER: And the president said he welcomed an investigation and promised action.
BUSH: If there's a leak out of my administration, I want to know who it is. And if the person has violated the law, that person will be taken care of.
BLITZER: In December, 2003, special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald was appointed to find out who leaked Plame's identity. Over the course of the next 18 months, top administration officials were questioned, including Rove, Vice President Cheney, and even the president himself. In August, 2004, at the Republican National Convention, in an interview with CNN, Rove denied he was responsible.
KARL ROVE, PRESIDENTIAL ADVISOR: I didn't know her name. I didn't leak her name.
BLITZER: Prosecutors also went after journalists, who had Plame's identity leaked to them.
"TIME" magazine's Matthew Cooper, who wrote an article on the story, and "The New York Times'" Judith Miller, who researched one but never published it.
But after the Supreme Court refused to hear the journalists' requests to shield them from prosecution, Cooper's employer, Time Inc., which is owned by CNN's parent company, cooperated with the prosecutor, turning over notes which revealed that Karl Rove was, in fact, Cooper's source, which Cooper himself later confirmed.
Miller is currently in jail for refusing to cooperate with the grand jury.
The White House immediately went into a no-comment mode, putting up a wall of silence that has yet to be broken.
BUSH: We're in the midst of an ongoing investigation, and I will be more than happy to comment further once the investigation is completed.
Wolf Blitzer, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: And still to come this hour, those airport security lines can go on and on and on. You think you've seen the worst of it? At 10 till the hour, we'll tell you where the real snags are and where you might sail through.
Here's a look at what else is making news this Friday morning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Your news, money, weather and sports. It is now 42 minutes after hour, and here's what's all new this morning.
The 2-year-old Canadian beef ban is over. A federal appeals court ruled that Canadian cattle can, once again, be imported into the U.S. The ban had been in effect ever since a cow in Alberta was found to have mad cow disease.
In culture, SpongeBob SquarePants is pushing fruits and veggies. He'll appear on packages of carrots, spinach and citrus starting next month. Nickelodeon says it hopes he and other Nick characters will encourage kids to eat healthier.
In money, Delta Airlines has raised its fare cap by $100. The airline is blaming high fuel costs for the increase. One-way walk-up fares are now $599.
And in sports, six-time defending champ Lance Armstrong is still ahead of the pack in the Tour de France. The 13th stage is today. Armstrong has a 38-second overall lead.
(WEATHER REPORT)
WHITFIELD: Well, are they airport checkpoints or airport chokepoints? Getting through security is often the hardest part of the trip. But why is that so? We'll take a closer look.
But first, happy birthday to those born on July 15. DAYBREAK will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: The search is on for another man wanted for questioning in the London bombings, and that search has led the FBI to North Carolina.
CNN's David Mattingly has details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The FBI would like to know what Egyptian national Magdy el-Nashar was doing during his time in Raleigh, North Carolina, particularly as a student in chemical engineering at North Carolina State.
University officials tell us he was enrolled here briefly only in the spring of 2000. For that one semester, he was a graduate student in chemical engineering.
One person, a fellow Egyptian who knew him at the time, says el- Nashar, during that time, seemed to be a regular guy, not someone whoever demonstrated any radical beliefs. He also said that el-Nashar had plans to go back to his native Cairo and to enroll in classes in England to continue his education, something that apparently came through for him, as we have now learned that he obtained a doctorate in biochemical engineering at the University of Leeds.
As for his footprint here, it was very slight. University officials say there is not even any photographic record of him when he attended college here.
We went to his last-known address, a very small apartment just off campus. We talk to his former property manager, who tells us that she has turned over all of her old records to the FBI.
But at this point, investigators on both sides of the Atlantic are unable to say exactly what connection, if any, he has to this case.
David Mattingly, CNN, Raleigh, North Carolina.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Well, it's now 49 minutes after the hour, and here's what's making news later on today.
President Bush is meeting with El Salvador's president at the White House today. They're expected to talk about CAFTA, the Central American Free Trade Agreement that passed in the Senate two weeks ago.
"Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" goes on sale at midnight today. It's the sixth installment in the story about the life of a boy wizard attending the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
And the rule requiring passengers to be seated for 30 minutes after departure or before arrival at the Reagan National Airport will be suspended as of 6:00 p.m. today. The TSA says new security measures mean the rule is not needed anymore.
And NASA is facing great scrutiny as the launch window for the space shuttle Discovery narrows.
Let's check in with CNN's Miles O'Brien for a look at what's coming up on "AMERICAN MORNING."
Oh, back in New York.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, I'm here.
WHITFIELD: With a suit and tie.
M. O'BRIEN: I'm back. I'm back.
WHITFIELD: Very nice. M. O'BRIEN: It's the jet age. Here I am, Fred.
Yes, down at the Cape, they are concerned, obviously, about those fuel sensors that were balking in the midst of that countdown. And what they're saying is they want to get a technician in there to jiggle a few wires. I kid you not. It is rocket science, but sometimes it comes down to that.
And once they jiggle those wires, maybe, just maybe, they'll find the problem. And then, if all of the stars should line up, a launch on Sunday. Don't bet on it.
Another thing coming up, a chilling look inside the Iraqi insurgency. We tell you all about it all the time, but you don't hear from these people too often. You'll hear directly from two men who claim to be members of the insurgency. Our Nic Robertson with that. And for Nic, you know, that's the kind of story he does routinely for us -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: And he does it so well.
M. O'BRIEN: He does indeed. So that's just a couple of things coming up. We hope you'll join us.
WHITFIELD: We will indeed. Thanks so much, Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: All right.
WHITFIELD: Well, speaking of waiting, we're talking about NASA waiting, well, is it checkpoint or chokepoint at the airports? If you're headed to the airport this morning, you know the security lines can be long, sometimes an hour or more. So which airports do you think have the longest wait times?
"USA Today" poured through the records of the nation's airport, and the answers just might surprise you.
Here are the best five in the country: Maui, Hawaii, takes the top spot, followed by Dallas Love Airport in Texas, Jackson, Florida, Kansas City, Missouri, and Charlotte, North Carolina.
And here are the bottom five: Piedmont-Triad, North Carolina, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Cleveland, Ohio, Long Beach, California, and West Palm Beach, Florida.
Ginger Gadsen is with "USA Today."
And, Ginger, that list proves that the size of the airport does not matter at all when it comes to waiting in security lines, right?
GINGER GADSEN, "USA TODAY": No, you're absolutely right, Fredricka. Good morning to you.
We analyzed five million government records to come up with this database. And basically what we found out that everything we think that it's random and unpredictable, but there is some method to the madness. And many flights -- one of the reasons is that lots of the flights for peak problems, they are scheduled to take off at the same time. And that clogs up security lines.
Now, airlines don't like to stagger flights that way, because they feel like if they start changing flights so that everyone won't be in the terminal at the same time that they will lose valuable customers.
And you mentioned that size does not matter. Many of the smaller airports are the ones that we found had those long security lines, whereas some of the larger airports seldom had waits -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: And it really seems that from concourse to concourse even in one given airport, the wait time may vary, doesn't it?
GADSEN: Yes, it certainly does vary. And there is -- some of the airports are designed differently. They're growing pains is what we call them. The airport design prevents you from having security checkpoints. You can't just add those extra tables and add those extra security lanes.
Miami is one of the airports where that's a clear example, where they weren't designed to be an airport to have that many checkpoints.
But some terminals that have the newer airlines, like JetBlue and Southwest, where airports were not expecting all of those passengers at once. Those airlines grew so quickly, who knew? And so, they are seeing long, long lines at their checkpoints as well.
WHITFIELD: And same place, same time. What do we mean by that?
GADSEN: Yes, same place, same time, it means that we all celebrate Thanksgiving at the same time. Usually we go on spring break at the same time, because it's spring and summer vacation and, of course, Thanksgiving. So, you can basically predict when the long lines are going to happen, because that's when people are taking off to visit family, friends and loved ones. You only get a few times a year. So it seems like, wow, everyone is traveling at the same time. And it turns out that you're probably right.
But the good news is, Fredricka, is that while some of the lines are really long, our analysis also found that at 75 percent of the nation's airports, the waits were less than 20 minutes. So, it's not all bad news. If you are a frequent traveler, you just learn how to read those lines, kind of like reading tea leaves. You know when to go and when not to go.
WHITFIELD: And always take a lot of patience.
(CROSSTALK)
GADSEN: A lot of patience, and I find reading materials.
WHITFIELD: Yes.
GADSEN: Yes, exactly. Never get caught without a good book at the airport.
WHITFIELD: OK, all right. Ginger Gadsen, "USA Today." Thanks so much.
Well, it's time now, Chad, to give away a DAYBREAK coffee mug.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. I asked the questions yesterday. I haven't been able to ask questions in five days, stuck in a hurricane. Hurricane Dennis upright what sunken ship? It's actually kind of an artificial reef. It's the USS Spiegel Grove. They actually sank that ship on purpose off the coast of Key Largo. And what percentage of London's economy is actually from tourism? That number is 10 percent. So we were talking yesterday about maybe some of the flights are not quite as full as they used to be because of the train bombings.
And the winner today, Martin Dowd from Southern Pines, North Carolina. Congratulations, Martin. You are the winner of today's DAYBREAK coffee mug.
Now the questions for today; answers tomorrow. Which two shipping companies are teaming up to deliver the latest Harry Potter novel as quickly as possible? And how many certified pre-owned cars were sold in 2004? And that was a big number.
CNN.com/daybreak. There's a link. Click the link and give us your answers -- Fred.
WHITFIELD: All right, all good questions. Good answers. Great mug. All right, thanks a lot, Chad.
MYERS: You're welcome.
WHITFIELD: When we come back, more headlines and a look at your travel forecast. This is DAYBREAK for a Friday morning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: All you business travelers listen up.
(WEATHER REPORT)
WHITFIELD: "Now in the News."
New revelations in the CIA leak investigation. The Associated Press reports presidential advisor Karl Rove testified to a grand jury that he learned the identity of a CIA operative from journalist Robert Novak, and he later discussed the information with "TIME" magazine reporter Matthew Cooper.
Chief Justice William Rehnquist says he has no immediate plans to step down from the Supreme Court. His family released his statement after Rehnquist left a Virginia hospital for treatment of a fever.
From the Time Warner center in New York, "AMERICAN MORNING" comes up right now.
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