Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

Full Force of Hurricane Emily Hits Coast of Mexico and Texas; Checking Out the President's Nominee

Aired July 20, 2005 - 08:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Full force of hurricane Emily hits the coast of Mexico and Texas. The eye crossing land within the last half hour. Now a major storm with category three winds. We're live with the latest.
In Washington, checking out the president's man. Learning more today about Supreme Court nominee Judge John Roberts. Who is he and what does this confirmation mean for the nation's high court?

And what could be a key development in the Natalee Holloway case. DNA evidence involved. We're life in Aruba with a new twist in that case on this AMERICAN MORNING.

ANNOUNCER: From the CNN broadcast center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Soledad O'Brien and Miles O'Brien.

O'BRIEN: A hot steamy morning here in New York.

Good morning to you.

I'm Miles O'Brien.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: What, it's already, what, 88 degrees outside?

O'BRIEN: Yes. Yes, it's wet, dirty heat, too.

COSTELLO: Yes, it is.

O'BRIEN: Yes.

COSTELLO: I'm Carol Costello in for Soledad.

We're keeping a close eye on hurricane Emily right now. And that's where we begin this hour.

Hurricane Emily right now slamming into northeast Mexico. The eye of the storm officially made landfall at 7:22 Eastern. The category three hurricane is packing 125 mile per hour winds and higher gusts. South Texas is bracing against battering wind and rain. That area is expected to get between five and 10 inches of rain. A tornado watch also in effect right now.

Let's check back with Chad right now for the latest on Emily's path -- go ahead, Chad.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Carol.

You know, the storm really did pick up intensity exactly where we expected it to, in these very warm waters of the western Gulf of Mexico. And the storm made landfall at 125 miles per hour. Even expecting some reports maybe even higher than that.

But look how far the storm extends out from the eye. We always say never focus on the eye. This is a big storm. This is a bowling ball, not a ping-pong ball, and it's all the way up almost to Corpus Christi here.

Zoom into a couple of spots for you. First, the eye as it made landfall, coming right here. Just as the bigger side of the eye gets over the land compared to the smaller side, that's when the Hurricane Center called the landfall itself.

South Padre Island getting very hard hit, especially to your north, with some big cells. And now this bowling ball is running right to Monterrey, Mexico. This is a very populated area here through the Rio Grande Valley. That entire area is going to pick up between five and 10 inches of rain and we are going to see significant flooding. Already flash flood warnings here.

We had one tornado warning earlier to the northwest of South Padre Island. No tornado warnings since, but there are tornado watches in effect and the potential does exist, especially on the north side of the eye, where Texas is, for tornadoes to develop.

COSTELLO: All right, enough said.

Thank you, Chad.

Well, let's go to South Padre Island, Texas right now.

Dan Quandt is a spokesperson for South Padre Island.

It looks very calm where you are right now.

DAN QUANDT, SOUTH PADRE ISLAND SPOKESMAN: Well, it's not too bad. It's a bit breezy, but we're making out all right.

COSTELLO: You seem to.

Have many people evacuated?

QUANDT: No, actually, the majority of the residents stayed put. We did have a number of cancellations in terms of the hotel rooms. But the residents boarded up and rode it out during the night.

COSTELLO: I know a lot of visitors come to your island.

We've heard that 60 percent cancellations in hotels?

QUANDT: Yes, that's approximately correct. Some were as high as 100 percent, some quite a bit less. But, on average, about 60 percent. But we're going to let this one go by and we'll be back in business later today.

COSTELLO: Oh, I hope so.

You've been hit with hurricanes before, though, haven't you?

QUANDT: Yes, we have. We haven't taken direct hits for a number of years, but we had -- our closest one was probably hurricane Bret back in 1999, in terms of recent history. And fortunately that one went by kind of like Emily did.

COSTELLO: But would you have preferred it if people had evacuated the island?

QUANDT: Well, no, not necessarily. You know, of course, our primary responsibility is the lives and safety of the people here on South Padre Island. But, you know, we're also concerned with making sure that their lifestyle stays as normal as possible. And right now, with the kinds of winds we were having and the kinds of winds that were forecast, it just didn't meet the criteria we normally have for an evacuation. It would normally have to be quite a bit stronger.

COSTELLO: Well, you know, I guess I would have been concerned because there's only one bridge connecting that barrier island with the rest of Texas...

QUANDT: Well...

COSTELLO: What if it's damaged?

QUANDT: And the bridge remained open throughout the night and is still open right now. So we've been doing very well. And, as I said, we've had absolutely no reports of any damage at this time.

COSTELLO: All right, Dan Quandt, thanks for joining us.

We want to go back to Chad right now.

Dan seems so calm.

MYERS: He is. Actually, he's probably in the shadow of a building. That happens a lot. That's how you can get a better shot.

Here's South Padre. Big storms, though, just to the north. And a big storm to the west here, for northwestern Cameron County now. A tornado warning for you until 7:45 Central daylight time, 8:45 Eastern time. A tornado indicated by Doppler radar very near Harlingen, Texas. It's a good sized city there. And expected to be near Santa Rosa by 7:10 Central daylight time. Time to be taking cover there in the deep south of Texas -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Thank you, Chad.

We'll get back to you.

O'BRIEN: All right, our top story this morning, President Bush and his nominee for the Supreme Court, federal judge John Roberts, have already begun their confirmation campaign. The two men had coffee at the White House this morning. Next, Judge Roberts meets with Senate leaders. The Judiciary Committee is expected to begin hearings in late August or early September.

Bob Franken at the White House now -- Bob, take us inside this decision.

What do we know about how it all unfolded?

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we do know that the phase two has begun now, and probably over coffee, the president and Judge Roberts were chortling a little bit about all the frenzied speculation.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

FRANKEN (voice-over): After a day of watching all the guesswork...

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We've heard quite a bit all day long now about Edith Clement.

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: OK, well, the two Ediths have been mentioned.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The early rumors in terms of Edith Jones, Edith Clement.

FRANKEN: ... President Bush put a quick stop to the speculation by naming John Roberts.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: My decision to nominate Judge Roberts to the Supreme Court came after a thorough and deliberative process.

FRANKEN: A process that involved Democrats and Republicans alike. Finally, the president decided on Roberts to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

President Bush was having lunch yesterday with the Australian prime minister when he excused himself to call Roberts.

JUDGE JOHN ROBERTS, SUPREME COURT NOMINEE: I am very grateful for the confidence the president has shown in nominating me and I look forward to the next step in the process, before the United States Senate.

FRANKEN: The Senate will be considering a 50-year-old graduate of Harvard, an active legal conservative. Roberts clerked for Chief Justice William Rehnquist, worked as a deputy solicitor general and, perhaps most importantly, has not developed a long judicial record to attack, since he's only been appeals court judge for two years.

Not that Democrats and liberal groups won't be trying to pin him down.

SEN. PATRICK LEAHY (D), VERMONT: No one is entitled to a free pass to a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court.

BUSH: I have full confidence that the Senate will rise to the occasion and act promptly on this nomination.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

FRANKEN: Next, the road to confirmation. There's a hope that confirmation will be achieved by the time the Supreme Court reconvenes in October. The question remains just how bumpy that road will be -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: That is the big question this morning.

Bob Franken, thank you.

Let's check the headlines now.

Fredricka Whitfield at the CNN Center -- good morning, Fred.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks, again, Miles.

At least six people have been killed in a suicide bombing in Baghdad. The attack happened earlier this morning outside of an Iraqi Army recruitment center. Police say a bomber wearing an explosives vest blew himself up while standing in line. Dozens of people are wounded.

Israel is going ahead with plans to withdraw from parts of Gaza. Just hours ago, the parliament rejected an attempt to delay the pullout for three months. The news follows protests on Tuesday. Thousands had demonstrated against the withdrawal and had hoped to influence the v. The pullout plan is slated to begin less than 30 days from now.

Another chance for convicted drug smuggler Schapelle Corby. You remember her. She's the Australian woman who was sentenced to 20 years in prison for bringing marijuana into Indonesia. The Bali high court has agreed to reopen the trial and is giving her lawyers two weeks to gather witnesses. A new hearing is set for August 3 now.

And firefighters are struggling to extinguish about one million tires on fire in Wisconsin. Take a look at this. The six-acre blaze sending black smoke into the air at the Watertown Tire Recycling Company. That's about 35 miles west of Milwaukee. It's not clear how the fire started.

As for how long it will burn, emergency crews say several days is being optimistic -- Carol, Miles.

O'BRIEN: I should say, you can start planning trips to go visit that all this summer, I think, if you wanted to.

COSTELLO: That could burn for months.

O'BRIEN: Those things, they last forever. They do. You can't stop them. All right, thank you very much, Fred.

COSTELLO: Still to come on AMERICAN MORNING, a massive heat wave grips most of the country. Several heat-related deaths have been reported. We'll look at the early warning signs of heat stroke and heat exhaustion.

O'BRIEN: Also, some new developments in the Natalee Holloway case. Why do authorities want DNA tests from a suspect and two of his friends?

COSTELLO: And some personal perspective on John Roberts. We'll talk to someone who's been friends with the Supreme Court nominee for 25 years. That's next on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: In the next few weeks, we'll learn much more about federal judge John Roberts, as he goes through the Supreme Court confirmation process. A good place to start is with Judge Roberts' close friend and fellow lawyer, Dean Colson, joining us from Highlands, North Carolina.

Dean, good to have you with us this morning.

DEAN COLSON, FRIEND OF JOHN ROBERTS: Delighted to be here, Miles.

O'BRIEN: The two of you have been friends for quite a long time. As I say, we've heard about his sterling resume and his wonderful accomplishments.

What's he like as a person?

COLSON: Well, he's a very bright guy. He's got a wonderful sense of humor. He's the type of guy that has a wide variety of interests, you know, be it history, literature or talking, you know, college football or pro-football or baseball. You'd love to sit around and have a beer and eat a pizza with him and talk sports. You would never know just what a brilliant guy he was.

O'BRIEN: Well, if he gives me an invite, I'll be right over.

All right, let's -- we have a picture of you guys in your salad days, as they say. You guys have known each other for quite some time. Wow, a lot of hair back then. I guess we all did in those days.

Tell me what was he like then? I mean did -- when you were having kind of, you know, college bull sessions, were you talking about hey, one day I'd like to be a Supreme Court justice? Did that ever come up?

COLSON: No. You know, you never -- I do think most Supreme Court clerks, you know, think about things like that. They -- we were, it's a wonderful year. You're very busy. We go to work very closely with then Justice Rehnquist. And it was apparent from the first day we were there that this was an extraordinary intellect with a great work ethic and he was going to do special things. And he has.

O'BRIEN: So privately did you think this was one person who could make it to the high court?

COLSON: Yes. I mean he, over the last two decades, has become probably the premier Supreme Court litigator of our generation. I mean it's a very elite field and he's the very best of the best. And so once you become the best of the Supreme Court practitioners, then you've got to be thinking about, you know, where do you go next. And he has a great interest in the law. He writes beautifully. And so he's an obvious choice for the president to make.

O'BRIEN: Let's talk about his family for just a moment.

His wife Jane is an attorney, as well. He's got two young children, Jack and Josie. And there they were, off to the side. And they do get the award for the best dressed children I've seen in a long time, seersucker and saddle shoes and all that. But, of course, Jack wasn't that interested in the proceeding here, as you can see. He fidgets a little bit.

COLSON: Yes.

O'BRIEN: Well, wait -- there he is, over in the corner there, not enjoying this. He's four years old. And tell me -- and at four he's entitled to do all of these things, of course.

Dean, tell me what is he like as a dad?

COLSON: You know, I was -- we were together the second week of June for the reunion of former Rehnquist clerks. And so we spent the weekend there and he is a very attentive father. In the next weekend, he said he was going, taking the kids camping with some friends.

We played golf that weekend. It was the first time he had played in a year. And I said what, you know, you go on the federal bench, you get lifetime tenure. You ought to play more golf. And he said you can't play more golf when you have a 4- and 5-year-old.

And so he's a very attentive father. That's very important to him. And Jane's just a terrific mother.

O'BRIEN: He is a devout Roman Catholic and there will be a lot of discussion about how that might play into any sort of abortion decisions which come his way.

What are your thoughts on that?

COLSON: You know, I -- one, I don't -- I've never discussed the issue with him and, or, you know, the legal analysis in "Roe" or the "Casey" case. But I think he'll bring to these issues his life experiences. But I also believe that he will be able to separate those life experiences and he'll make his decisions based upon the law, the constitution, the Supreme Court Reporter and precedent and not based upon, you know, what Genesis or the New Testament may say on these issues.

He'll base it on the law.

O'BRIEN: Yes, we just saw your friend walking with the president this morning as they went out into the Rose Garden after some coffee and talking to reporters.

What's that like, seeing somebody you've known for so long being in that position?

COLSON: I couldn't be more proud of him. He has worked so hard over the last 25 years and has achieved at a level that very few people, you know, get to. And I just, I'm thrilled for him. He deserves this. He's a wonderful human being.

O'BRIEN: In a sense, though...

COLSON: And I mean...

O'BRIEN: ... let me just, as a final thought, do you worry about him a little bit as a friend facing this process which, as you well know, can get very ugly?

COLSON: Yes, I, you know, I've talked to him about it and -- but this is so important and he's in, if not him, who? Because they're going to -- whoever was nominated was -- is going to have to go through this. And he can stand up to it. And he'll do a great job.

O'BRIEN: Dean Colson, long time friend of John Roberts.

Thanks for your time.

We appreciate it.

COLSON: Delighted Miles.

Thank you.

O'BRIEN: Carol.

COSTELLO: Still to come on AMERICAN MORNING, a follow-up to an emotional story we first reported several weeks ago. A brain dead woman kept on life support so her unborn child could survive. Doctors have now reached a critical point. We'll explain next on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: We have some sad news to tell you. The search for an American climber missing in the mountains of northern Pakistan has ended tragically. The body of 27-year-old Erica Kutcher was found Tuesday buried under a rockslide. She had been missing since July 9. You may recall Kutcher's parents appeared on AMERICAN MORNING on Monday and they said their daughter had gone to Pakistan to map a new route to the peak that is near the country's border with China -- Carol. COSTELLO: More on a story we first told you about a month ago.

After 25 weeks, a brain dead woman has crossed an important threshold. Susan Torres has completed the minimum number of weeks necessary to deliver her baby. The 26-year-old Torres was 15 weeks pregnant when an undetected tumor bled into her brain. Her family has been keeping her alive in the hopes of saving the baby.

Susan Torres' brother-in-law, Justin Torres, is in Washington this morning.

Good morning.

JUSTIN TORRES, SUSAN TORRES' BROTHER-IN-LAW: Good morning.

COSTELLO: This is such a tough time for you and your brother.

How is he holding up?

TORRES: Well, he's, you know, he's hanging in there. I mean it's been a very long summer. He's definitely tired. He spends a lot of time at the hospital, every night, and a lot of hours in the day. But, you know, there are always decisions to be made and test results to be analyzed and things to be done. So we have a lot of things to do. And he's doing well.

COSTELLO: The baby has progressed beyond week 25.

Why don't doctors deliver the baby now?

TORRES: Well, because the longer you can go, the better outcomes that you get. If we can get to 28 weeks, even 30 weeks, the long-term and even short-term prospects for the baby are just so much better.

We won't go past 32 weeks. We know we have some kind of end date here. But, you know, a couple more weeks, even day to day, the increase in the prospects for the baby are just amazing. So we're going to go as long as we can go.

COSTELLO: Is there any way to definitively know if the cancer has spread to the baby?

TORRES: There's no way to definitively know. There are no signs at this point that that's the case. And in reviewing a lot of the, you know, some of the medical records, I mean there aren't a lot of cases like this. But in the very few cases that there have been, it turns out that maybe that's not as big a problem as we had originally feared it might be. Even if that happens, it may not be something that stops us from continuing to move forward.

But, you know, there are no guarantees in any of this. There never were from the very beginning. And the fact that we've gotten to where we are is astonishing. We would have never imagined we'd get this far.

COSTELLO: The response that you've had from all over the world, tell us about that.

TORRES: Well, it's been astonishing. We've set up a Web site, susantorresfund.org. And we've just received cards from all over the world, prayers from all over the world, donations. We've received, you know, donations from a soldier in Iraq. A woman in Pennsylvania knitted the baby a blanket because she couldn't make a donation, but she wanted to do something. They pour in every day, thousands of cards. And it's just been -- it's been really comforting.

COSTELLO: In the most practical of terms, this has got to cost a lot of money.

TORRES: Right.

COSTELLO: How are you doing on that front?

TORRES: We think that we've raised -- it's just a couple of us processing checks and we're constantly behind because there are so many to get through. But we think that we've probably raised around $400,000 at this point, which is just astonishing to us. We never thought that we'd get that far. And it definitely, you know, will it pay for everything? Probably not. But it certainly takes a lot of the burden off.

COSTELLO: Oh, people have big hearts, don't they?

TORRES: They do.

COSTELLO: You know, if the baby is born, of course, Susan will die. I'm sure that you have discussed this with your brother.

How do you deal with something like that?

TORRES: Well, you know, on that day, I mean, we're going to be obviously pulled in two different directions again once. But there'll also still be things to do on that day. We'll still probably have a couple of weeks in the hospital with this baby, which will be at least eight weeks premature and probably more than that.

You know, I don't know how you prepare yourself for it. I don't know how you sort of get over the past couple of weeks that we've been in and the hours in the hospital and the trips to the media and things like that. But, you know, it -- probably the answer centers around relying on your family and relying on the community and religious faith.

COSTELLO: Yes.

TORRES: And we have all those things.

COSTELLO: I wanted to ask you, too, because your brother has a 2-year-old. I believe we have a picture of him.

Does he understand what's going on at all?

TORRES: Well, he definitely misses his mother and he understands that there's something wrong and it has something to do with his mother. But we haven't explained to him, you know, precisely what's going on because he wouldn't understand and it probably wouldn't serve any purpose for him or for us.

But he's, Peter is doing well. He spends a lot of time with his cousins, with my kids, with both sets of grandparents and a lot of time with his dad. And, you know, we've tried to make this as, you know, tried to make it as least disruptive as possible for Peter. It's hard to do, but he's a good kid and he's doing well.

COSTELLO: And you seem like a terrific brother.

TORRES: Thank you.

COSTELLO: Thank you for joining us this morning.

We appreciate it.

Justin Torres, brother-in-law of Susan Torres -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Still to come, our top story -- the nomination of Judge John Roberts to the Supreme Court. Is he the right man for the job? The debate from both sides of the aisle ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Get the latest news every morning in your e-mail. Sign up for AMERICAN MORNING "Quick News" at cnn.com/am.

Still to come, a new twist in the Natalee Holloway case. DNA tests are ordered for a suspect and two of his friends.

Why now, after all this time?

That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: It's your turn. My apologies.

COSTELLO: Thank you.

It is just about half past the hour on this AMERICAN MORNING.

I'm Carol Costello in for Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Now it's my turn.

I'm Miles O'Brien.

Coming up, a look at Democratic and Republican reaction to John Roberts' Supreme Court nomination. Kamber and May, of course, are next.

COSTELLO: Ooh, I bet they'll be spunky this morning.

O'BRIEN: I suspect so.

COSTELLO: Also, we'll talk to the attorney for Natalee Holloway's family about some possible DNA evidence that could be discussed in court today.

But right now let's head to Atlanta and Fredricka Whitfield -- good morning, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Good morning to both of you again.

Thank you.

Britain is planning to beef up anti-terrorism legislation in response to the bombings in London. British Home Secretary Charles Clark announced the proposed changes before the parliament just in the past hour. Meanwhile, police have removed one of the mangled train carriages from London's underground. The wreckage was wrapped in blue plastic and taken in for more testing.

Pakistan says it's cracking down on some extremist groups. Raids were launched Tuesday on the orders of President Pervez Musharraf. A government official says more than 200 people have been detained throughout the country. But police say the arrests had nothing to do with the London attacks.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is in Africa for a week long visit that includes stops in the Middle East. The secretary arriving in Senegal earlier today for an African trade summit. She will head next to Sudan, to visit a refugee camp in the war ravaged region of Darfur. Rice is planning to meet with Israeli and Palestinian officials, also, this weekend.

The chemical company Dupont has been slapped with a $5 billion class action lawsuit. The suit alleges that a chemical in Teflon could cause cancer. The plaintiffs want the company to impose a Teflon warning label and set up funds to pay for medical monitoring and research. Dupont says its products are safe.

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