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American Morning

Preparation for Judge Robert's Confirmation Hearings; Muslim Cleric Blames Britain for Attacks; Managing Your Business; Large Shark Caught for Tournament

Aired July 21, 2005 - 07:30   ET

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

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Just about half past the hour on this AMERICAN MORNING. I'm Miles O'Brien.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Carol Costello, in for Soledad today.

Coming up, we'll talk more about the confirmation process for Judge John Roberts who is, of course, seeking a seat on the Supreme Court.

O'BRIEN: Attorney General Alberto Gonzales was considered a frontrunner for that job. We'll talk to him there he is and ask him if he's relieve or disappointed. Also what role the Justice Department might play in the confirmation process.

But before we do that, let's check the headlines. Fredricka Whitfield in Atlanta with that.

Fred.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to both of you.

"Now in the News."

An Amber Alert has been issued in the state of Florida for a missing newborn. Police say a baby boy just eight days old was abducted last night in Ft. Myers. The infant, Jesse Threat (ph), was apparently in the custody of his grandmother and is believed to have been taken by his biological parents.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LARRY LONG, FLORIDA DEPT. OF LAW ENFORCEMENT: So these are two very dangerous individuals and we're asking for the public's assistance in trying to find information about their whereabouts and the whereabouts of little Jesse.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Police say the suspects, the biological parents, have a long history of drug abuse. They may be traveling in a light blue Lincoln.

The Pentagon is giving Congress a progress report on Iraq. It includes details on the military, political and economic situations there. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the report shows challenges lie ahead but that things are moving in the right direction.

A scuffle broke out during Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's trip to Sudan. Secretary Rice was there earlier this morning when members of her staff and the press traveling with her were apparently manhandled by authorities. Rice demanded an apology and was later given one by Sudan's foreign minister. Rice continued her trip and visited a refugee camp in Darfur. She is leaving for the Middle East this hour.

A man in the Republic of Georgia says he was the one who threw a grenade at President Bush earlier this year. The explosive device was tossed at the stage where President Bush and Georgian dignitaries had gathered. It did not explode and no one was hurt. The man apparently made the confession to doctors from his hospital bed after a gun fight with police.

And in Arizona, the mayor of Phoenix is asking for federal help as temperatures continue to soar. City officials are scrambling to provide water and shelter to all those in need. At least 18 deaths are being blamed on the weather there. Most of the victims are believed to have been homeless.

Now let's get another check of the weather picture with Chad.

(WEATHER REPORT)

O'BRIEN: Supreme Court Nominee John Roberts will be on Capitol Hill again today meeting with senators who will decide his future. Early indications are that the Democrats won't make a stand to block his appointment. But they have said Roberts won't be rubber stamped either. So that means some intense public scrutiny, as you would expect.

U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has been through confirmation hearings, of course, and as a possible Supreme Court nominee himself, he may well have been preparing to go through the process again. The attorney general joins us from now from Washington.

Mr. Gonzalez, were you preparing and are you trading notes now with Judge Roberts?

ALBERTO GONZALES, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: What I was preparing for was preparing the president to ensure that he had the information that he needed to make an informed decision. And so then, of course, I had my other responsibilities as attorney general and those keep me quite occupied.

O'BRIEN: Well, there's no doubt you have a busy day. There's no question. But, if you were giving advice to Judge Roberts about how to answer some of these tough questions, what would you tell him?

GONZALES: Well, that's what we're going to be doing moving forward. The Department of Justice historically has been very much involved in preparing the nominee for confirmation hearings and for these courtesy visits. Obviously, we understand that the Senate has a constitutional duty to inquire into the qualifications of a perspective nominee and so our job will be to ensure that we have the nominee ready for his hearing.

O'BRIEN: So how are you going to get him ready?

GONZALES: Well we provide we will provide him a lot of materials to read. We will also, of course, have will sit down with the nominee, pose questions to the nominee and talk about answers that he might choose to give. And so, obviously, we want to make sure that the nominee is as well prepared as possible. And I have every expectation that Judge Roberts will be in a position to provide the information that is appropriate to provide to the Senate so they can make an informed decision.

O'BRIEN: So a little witness coaching here. Give us a sense of the kinds of questions you're going to throw at him.

GONZALES: Well, what we try to do is anticipate the kind of questions that we think that members of the Judiciary Committee are going to be are going to ask based upon the public comments that they've made, based upon previous questions that they've asked to previous nominees, in particular previous Supreme Court nominees. And senators often times have particular interests, curious about a nominee's perspective and views about certain issues and how they approach a case, and so we can go back and look at the record in anticipation of the kinds of questions that a nominee may expect.

O'BRIEN: Well, of course, Judge Roberts doesn't have a long paper trail here. But let's talk about abortion, which has to be front and center in these hearings. Two apparently conflicting statements on the record from Judge Roberts. Back in '91, when he was working the solicitor general's office, said this, "we continue to believe that Row was wrongly decided and should be overruled," referring to the Roe vs. Wade decision. Then in 2003, confirmation hearings for his current post, "Roe v. Wade is the settled law of the land. There is nothing in my personal views that would prevent me from fully and faithfully applying that precedent." Which is it?

GONZALES: Well, there are conflicting statements and yet they were given when he was in different capacities. And those statements don't reflect and shouldn't reflect or we shouldn't anticipate what his views are with respect to the abortion issue if the issue came before him as a Supreme Court justice. In one capacity where he signed a brief, he was advocating as a lawyer on behalf of the president who had taken a position on abortion. In another case, he was speaking in terms of a prospective judge on the federal circuit where he is bound to follow precedent. And in that respect, I think he was quite right in saying that the Supreme Court had said that Row was the law. And so in that respect, I think that those statements are clearly not inconsistent. And the fact that he made those statements, again, in my judgment, we should not believe that that somehow indicates how he may decide this issue if he is confirmed by the Senate and if the issue comes before the Supreme Court. O'BRIEN: All right. Final thought here. It's perhaps likely at this point, because of the lack of a paper trail here, that senators will ask for documents that would be in your files there at the Justice Department which go back to Judge Roberts' tenure in the solicitor general's office. What's your stance on that? Would you be forthcoming with that kind of documentation to give them a sense of what he's all about?

GONZALES: I'm not going to prejudge what the Senate may ask of us, nor am I going to prejudge how the executive branch is going to respond. There's often, in these kinds of nominations, a request for information. Accommodations are made so that information is provided. And so at the end of the day, the Senate will have information that will be appropriate in making an informed decision as to the qualification of a perspective nominee.

O'BRIEN: So you'll give all the documents that they ask for?

GONZALES: Again, I'm not going to prejudge that question. We'll have to wait and see what they're asking for and we look forward to working with the Senate in making sure that they have information that is appropriate for their consideration for this nominee.

O'BRIEN: All right. Thank you, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Appreciate your time.

Carol.

COSTELLO: In Britain, Radical Muslim Cleric Sheikh Omar Bakri Mohammed is blaming the government there for the July 7th terrorist attacks. Now he's facing demands for had his deportation. Senior International Correspondent Nic Robertson is back with this story.

So, Nic, why is he blaming the British government?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well he says that British Muslims here, young ones in particular, are being radicalized by what they see happening in Iraq by, as he says, sitting, watching other Muslims being killed. That is radicalizing them. But he also says that Osama bin Laden last year issued Britain a warning saying, get out of Iraq. It's break your partnership with the United States. This is your opportunity. Leave Iraq. He says Britain ignored that warning and that's why the bombing happened.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you prepared to apologize for what you said regarding British people yesterday?

SHEIKH OMAR BAKRI MOHAMMED, MUSLIM CLERIC: Well, see, I don't speak with pornographic newspaper.

ROBERTSON, (voice over): He is the man the British love to hate right now. Newspaper headlines demand he be thrown out of the country. Muslim Cleric Sheikh Omar Bakri Mohammed, who last year predicted al Qaeda could attack London, now says the British government is to blame for the attack.

MOHAMMED: I believe this government to be blamed. This public (ph) to be blamed. And the moderate shop (ph) (INAUDIBLE) to be blamed.

ROBERTSON: An internal government report listed his group, Almagarun (ph), which he says is now disbanded, as extremists. Its followers vulnerable to becoming killers. A young man who attended one of his meetings went on to become Britain's first suicide bomber in 2003, attacking a nightclub in Israel.

MOHAMMED: Many people attend my meetings. Now they attend somebody else, as well, meetings. Myself, I never, ever recruit people to go out (ph) or to fight, through I believe it is allowed.

ROBERTSON: Proposed new legislation to stop radical clerics inciting hatred could lead to Bakri's deportation. He's lived here for more than 20 years. Doesn't consider himself British but does take government unemployment benefits.

MOHAMMED: I'm living here and I'm entitled for whatever anybody entitled. If you say I'm not entitled, don't give me.

ROBERTSON: He proudly proclaims himself an extremist, but said he is part of the solution to stopping terror attacks, not part of the problem. That it is moderate Muslims and the government who are out of touch with the Muslim youth.

MOHAMMED: The (INAUDIBLE) issue is not the problem, not from the extremists or the radicals. I believe we are part of the solution. I believe so. We are part of the solution. We were able to hold the youth and we can hold them again by (INAUDIBLE) and by the world of wisdom which is based on the Koran.

ROBERTSON: He claims he had no part in the London bombings, did not know the four men involved. Indeed, condemns the attack.

MOHAMMED: I said to you, I condemn any form of bombing, here or abroad, killing any innocent people.

ROBERTSON: The British government is holding summit meetings, enlisting moderate Muslims to marginalize clerics like Bakri. He remains unabashedly unashamed of his views.

MOHAMMED: My support for (INAUDIBLE) Osama bin Laden, I share with him the same belief and I pray for God you see that he himself will be guided and we be protected.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTSON: And when I asked him if he thought another attack was likely, he said God forbid that it should happen. But if it does, he says, it's because they're not listening. The British government is not listening to me. That's what he said.

Carol. COSTELLO: Nic Robertson reporting live in London.

O'BRIEN: Still to come on AMERICAN MORNING, a fishing contest and a really, really big catch. But this 1,200 pound monster there it is monster shark was missing one thing to be a winner. We will explain as we chat with the fishermen who hauled that fellow in. Stay with us for more AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Irrational exuberance was the term a few years ago that Alan Greenspan used. He was referring, of course, to the stock market. Now he's out with a warning perhaps on the real estate bubble. Gerri Willis here with that.

GERRI WILLIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right. You know, Alan Greenspan yesterday talking to Congress says that the housing market has gotten a little bit out of control. Some markets up as much as 30 percent, as you probably already know. Greenspan, the Federal Reserve chairman, saying that risky home mortgages could be disastrous, his word, for some borrowers. And we've seen interest only mortgages, the proliferation of these really sort of risky tools for financing homes. He's saying stay away. It could be a problem particularly if the bubble were to burst. You could end up owing more than your home is worth in some cases. It's a real problem.

COSTELLO: Well, is he talking about any specific area, though?

WILLIS: No. He came to you address and he said . . .

COSTELLO: You're in trouble.

WILLIS: Carol, your house is overvalued.

No, he did not discuss in depth the . . .

COSTELLO: Because like the bubble has already burst, what, in Denver. I read an article about that. But here it doesn't seem to have burst.

WILLIS: Well, I think you've got to look at the history of these markets and see if they are volatile and New York happens to be one of those barely volatile areas. And you can follow its progress when you compare it to the economy.

I've got to get to another breaking story, though, that we have this morning, which is really interesting.

O'BRIEN: Yes. OK.

WILLIS: China and this is such a geeky story but very important. China is scrapping the yuan's peg to the dollar. The value of the yuan connected to the dollar typically and the Bush administration has been fighting this. This is a geeky way of saying that if you work in the manufacturing industry and you sell your products overseas, your products may be more popular. If you buy goods from China that are cheap, they could become more expensive. It's a very big deal. The markets look like they're going to open very well higher today because of this news.

O'BRIEN: Oh, so this is good news for the Street?

WILLIS: This is good news.

O'BRIEN: They like this. OK.

COSTELLO: This is good geeky news.

O'BRIEN: OK. I was trying to figure that out.

WILLIS: Doesn't mean it's good news for you this week as a street light (ph) effect.

O'BRIEN: OK. Thank you, Gerri. Appreciate that.

All right, still to come, four fishermen come face-to-face with a monster shark. Sounds like a movie, right? Well, it was the real deal. And what was it like to reel in a whopper weighing more than half a ton? They'll join us live next on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Well, a hearty fishing crew from Massachusetts caught the big fish, but they didn't get the big win. Fishermen caught this 1,191-pound, 15-foot long tiger shark, but they still didn't win the 19th annual Oak Bluff Monster Shark Tournament off Martha's Vineyard last weekend. Why, you ask? Well, the deadlines. Oh, for gosh sakes. Details. Joining us this morning from Katamet (ph), Massachusetts, Ivo Allen, who actually caught the shark bare foot, not in the chair, three crew members who helped on the boat, of course, Captain Damon Sacco, Jay Shirrramka (ph) and Andre Maligal (ph).

I hope I did that right, guys. Good to have you all with us.

Let's start with you, Damon. You're the captain. So we'll just ask you this, what's it like to bring something like that in, that big, and miss the deadline by six minutes? Do you wish you didn't bother pulling it into the boat? Should have just dragged him in, right?

DAMON SACCO, CAUGHT 1,191-LB SHARK: Well, we did drag him in. We tried pulling him in and realized . . .

O'BRIEN: You did?

SACCO: Oh, yes, we tried and we got about maybe 20 percent of the fish in the boat and we realized that the other 80 percent was not coming in. And that was after we broke a block and tackle and a couple of lines. And it just you know, the fish was too wide. It just simply couldn't fit through the tuna door.

O'BRIEN: Wow. SACCO: I've had plenty of big tuna in the boat and this thing was just, you know, it was bigger than anything I've ever seen, so we really didn't have experience, you know, wenching in a 1,200 pound animal.

O'BRIEN: So you knew you were up against a deadline. You just fire walled the engine and hoped for the best, right?

SACCO: Absolutely.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely.

SACCO: We just we surfed the fish home at 26 knots and kind of kept our fingers crossed knowing the that there was a time constraint the whole time.

O'BRIEN: Wow, Ivo, tell me about this.

You reeled this guy in. You know, and if you're not a fisherman, you need to understand, normally you're strapped into a seat, you've got seat belts on, you've got the fishing pole is kind of in the middle of a little socket. You were standing up bare foot. How did you do that?

IVO ALLEN, CAUGHT 1,191-LB SHARK: Well, I was well, the tournament was stand-up. That was the rules, that you weren't allowed to use a chair.

O'BRIEN: Oh, it's the rule. OK.

ALLEN: Correct.

SACCO: No, you could use a chair.

ALLEN: You could?

SACCO: It was IGFA IGFA rules.

O'BRIEN: All right. Settle this later.

ALLEN: Oh, now I know. Now he tells me. I could have sat in the chair the whole time.

Yes, well the shark the shark hit so fast I didn't even have time to put my shoes on. It just we reacted. You know, Damon got the boat started, Jay grabbed the rod, I put the harness on. It was just we just started fighting the fish. And two hours, 10 minutes later.

O'BRIEN: Wow. And you're a little sore, right? A little sore today?

ALLEN: Oh, yes. Still sore.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, absolutely.

O'BRIEN: What was the line you used, what was it rated for?

ALLEN: A hundred and thirty.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One hundred and thirty.

O'BRIEN: Wow, that's pretty . . .

ALLEN: A 130 pound test.

O'BRIEN: That's something. So you came in. Did you say, come on, give us you know, it's such a big fish, you know, can you give us a six minute dispensation here? Was there any or were the judges just, no way?

SACCO: Rules are rules. You know, we fish a lot of tournaments. The boat's been in this tournament in particular for eight years and you've got to play by the rules. I mean some people, unfortunately, don't and, you know, they ruin it for the rest of, you know, good, honest captains and crews.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) does. Yes.

SACCO: But, you know, it is what it is, you know, and we missed it by six minutes. We tried. You know, there was nothing that was done wrong. It was just fate. It's the way it was meant to be.

O'BRIEN: So you're not that you're sort of taking it in stride and you're not that disappointed? Or are you?

SACCO: Oh, no, we're no, we're . . .

ALLEN: No.

SACCO: I'm speaking for myself. I'm pretty much crushed. I mean there was a state of church like silence in the cockpit when we rounded Chapaquittic Point (ph). You know, we knew I knew right then we weren't going to make it and we were going to and I said from the get go when we fired up the engines and started heading for the dock that it was going to be within five minutes. Ivo came up to and he said, what are our chances of making it in. And I just said, hey, man, it's going to be five minutes, you know . . .

ALLEN: Either way.

SACCO: Either way.

O'BRIEN: Wow.

SACCO: And he said, well I want it one way. And I said, I hear you and so do I. And we, you know, we just did everything we could. It's just didn't happen.

O'BRIEN: And the winner was how heavy?

ALLEN: Three-hundred-and-ninety-seven.

O'BRIEN: Oh, my gosh, 397. Well, so you missed out on a fair amount of prize money, is that right?

ALLEN: A fair amount.

O'BRIEN: Yes.

ALLEN: A fair amount of prize money.

O'BRIEN: How much?

SACCO: About a quarter of a million.

ALLEN: Quarter of a million.

O'BRIEN: Oh, my gosh, guys, I'm so sorry for you. And so what's next then? Are you going to be back next year and hope to find another . . .

ALLEN: Oh, absolutely.

SACCO: Back at it, right? Right back at it.

ALLEN: Just six minutes earlier.

SACCO: In fact, we're going fishing in about 45 minutes to the Gulf Stream.

O'BRIEN: Just for fun?

SACCO: Just keep we're just going to keep moving forward.

No, no, I'm doing a charter.

O'BRIEN: All right, guys. Well, good luck today. Hope you land a land a big one there and congratulations and condolences all at once.

ALLEN: Thank you.

SACCO: Thank you.

ALLEN: We appreciate it.

O'BRIEN: All right. Thanks to all the crew there and you can see more of the monster shark tournament on ESPN 2. That's beginning on September 12th. Of course, you know how it ends, don't you? But you can still watch.

Carol.

COSTELLO: I know, you gave away the ending.

Still to come, we've all heard of stormy marriages but this is ridiculous. We'll meet two newlyweds who have weathered two hurricanes and a tropical storm in the last three weeks. That's just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Excessive heat advisories in effect from east to west, all across the nation. The mercury is soaring to record highs once again today. Reports of deaths in places where it's usually hot but not like this. The forecast ahead.

In Mexico, Emily still unleashing its wrath, even just as a tropical depression. The storm is dumping torrential rains and threatening dangerous floods. A live report from Mexico this hour.

Under the microscope, DNA tests today on strands of blonde hair found on an Aruban beach in the Natalee Holloway case on this AMERICAN MORNING.

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