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American Morning

Warning to Millions of New York City Commuters; Karl Rove Once Again Before Grand Jury

Aired October 07, 2005 - 07:00   ET

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


SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Soledad O'Brien. Beware of backpacks and baby buggies. That's a warning to millions of New York City commuters. This morning's rush hour is now under extra tight security after what city officials are calling a specific terror threat. A live report on that ahead.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Miles O'Brien. Top presidential adviser Karl Rove once again before a grand jury in the CIA leak case. This will be his fourth visit, but time prosecutors say no guarantees he won't be indicted.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Nobel Peace Prize for 2005 is to be shared in two equal parts.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

S. O'BRIEN: The big announcement and the big prize, on this AMERICAN MORNING.

Good morning. Welcome, everybody. Good morning to you.

Good morning to you. Good to have you with us. New York City kind of a tense city this morning. A lot of people will be riding the subways this morning. And if they are listening to the mayor, they're going to be watching very closely. And if they see something, they're supposed to say something.

M. O'BRIEN: Well, they post those signs.

S. O'BRIEN: You see a lot of things on the subway.

M. O'BRIEN: Especially when you're supposed to be looking for people with strollers that are big enough to hide something in or backpack, I mean, that pretty much describes 90 percent of people who ride the subway. Much more security today. Keeping a close eye on the New York City transit system. Police are trying to prevent a threatening bomb attack on the subways. We've got complete coverage in our CNN Security Watch this morning, starting with Alina Cho. She's live at Penn Station. That's in midtown Manhattan. We've got Barbara Starr at the Pentagon this morning. Elaine Quijano at the White House for us.

Alina, let's talk about commuters. How are they reacting to the threat alert? Are people still riding the subways this morning? ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Soledad, that depends on who you ask. Some commuters seem to be a bit more worried of this than others. But when you consider that 4.5 million people ride the subway on any given work day, the subway system, terrorist threat or not, will be busy.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't feel a hundred percent safe, to be honest.

CHO (voice-over): New York subway commuters are on high alert after city officials went public Thursday with what they called a specific threat against New York subway system.

MYR. MICHAEL BLOOMBERG, NEW YORK CITY: This is the first time we've had a threat with this level of specificity.

CHO: The plot according to law enforcement involves the use of explosives, perhaps hidden in baby carriages to be carried out in the coming days by a group of 15 to 20 people.

But the Bush administration suggests the threat may be overblown. The Department of Homeland Security is saying it's of doubtful credibility; 4.5 million New Yorkers ride the subway each weekday. While there's concern, some are taking the heightened security in stride.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You become a little apprehensive, but I think in time we're kind of conditioned to expect some sort of stress or threat level, and you just move on with what you have to do.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody is going to take the train whether a bomb threat or not. It's like, what am I going to do? I just hope it's not my train.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have police on the train.

CHO: Police will be stepping up their random commuter searches. More uniformed and undercover officers will be deployed in the subway system. New York's mayor want New York's riders to be alert and not afraid.

BLOOMBERG: We ask that the public remain vigilant. If you see something, say something.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHO: And here at Penn Station, one of the busiest subway stations in the city, we have not noticed a lot of police officers, but city officials say that is by design. The mayor, indeed, says that if you decide to ride the subway today, you could be sitting next to an undercover detective, so some of the police presence you will see, some, you will not.

And, Soledad, the mayor also says he has seen this information about the threat, and he will do what he does every morning, he will ride the subway to work -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: All right, Alina, thanks -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Information on the subway terror plot came to light during a highly classified raid this week in Iraq. Barbara Starr at the Pentagon. Barbara has some more on that. What are we hearing about this raid, Barbara?

BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Miles, good morning to you.

All of it still being very closely held by the Bush administration, but it was Wednesday night in a place called Musiay (ph), which is south of Baghdad, that there was a crucial raid. Now, this second raid apparently was the result of the intelligence that warned of the threat to the New York City subway system. Officials are offering very few details at this time, other than to say this second raid on Wednesday night netted them three suspects that they believe were tied in that area to an Al Qaeda cell in Iraq that was planning attacks outside of Iraq.

U.S. military sources say this raid was carried out by both U.S. special forces, Iraqi special forces, and a so-called "another government agency around Washington." That's usually code word for the CIA -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Barbara, let's talk about this letter, apparent letter between some chief deputies of Al Qaeda. First of all, what do we know about it? Can we verify that it is, in fact, genuine? And what does it say?

STARR: Well, let's talk about that for a minute. A second story now. The U.S. believes it has obtained a letter from Ayman al Zawahiri, who of course is Osama Bin Laden's number-two man, his top deputy, a letter that he wrote to Abu Musab Al Zarqawi, the top Al Qaeda leader inside Iraq.

Now in this letter, he talks about Al Qaeda's strategies and concerns. He makes several key points. He says that many leaders, of course, have been lost; Zawahiri says that captured or killed. In another point, he says that Al Qaeda is resigned to defeat in Afghanistan. And he also talked about the fact that his communications and funding sources are in trouble. He even asks for money.

So how is it that U.S. officials believe this letter is genuine? They say they are totally convinced, that there is no question in their mind. And this is based not just the language in the letter, but the source of the letter, how they came into possession of it, which raises, of course, the tantalizing possibility that there is another Al Qaeda person out there perhaps captured who had this letter in hand and turned it over -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: All right, lots more questions, no time for them now. We'll get back to you later.

Barbara Starr, thank you -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: News of the New York City subway threat broke just hours after President Bush made his speech about Iraq and the war on terror. Elaine Quijano is live for us at the White House this morning.

Elaine, good morning to you.

Do you expect that we're going to hear from the president about the new threat?

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

Well, the president does have a meeting later this morning with the prime minister of Hungary, and it's very likely that he'll be asked about this. Now it was yesterday, as you mentioned, that the president delivered a speech about the war on terror and also Iraq.

Now, the president saying that ten Al Qaeda plots have been foiled, three of them plans to attack inside the United States. President Bush at that time also addressed criticism that the war in Iraq is creating more terrorists. He said that extreme ideology existed well before the Iraq invasion.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Some have also argued that extremism has been strengthened by the actions of our coalitions in Iraq. Claiming that our presence in that country is somehow caused or triggered the rage of radicals, I would remind them that we were not in Iraq on September 11, 2001, and Al Qaeda attacked us anyway.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUIJANO: Now the president, once again, argued that the United States would not be better off if it withdrew its forces from Iraq immediately as some critics have called for. The president noting also that obviously this is a critical time in that country as their political process moves forward. About a week away from when Iraqis will vote on a new constitution. The president warning in uptick in violence.

Now political success there, of course, tied closely to President Bush's recent approval ratings, have been down, particularly on the war in Iraq and President Bush's Iraq policy.

Nevertheless, the president reiterated yesterday, the United States will continue to stay the course -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Elaine Quijano at the White House for us. Elaine, thanks.

Just ahead this morning, we're going to talk more about the New York City threat. We'll be chatting with a head of the FBI's New York office Pat D'Amuro. You'll want to stay with CNN day and night. We have the most reliable news about your security -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Presidential adviser Karl Rove will testify again into the investigation into a leak of a CIA operative's identity. It will be his fourth appearance before the grand jury.

CNN national correspondent Bob Franken live in Washington covering this for us.

Good morning, Bob.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATL. CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Miles.

Just when we thought the grand jury might finally be coming up with some answers, now we hear that there are more high level questions.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FRANKEN (voice-over): Karl Rove, one of the central figures in this investigation, and a central figure in the political career of George W. Bush, will be testifying for at least the fourth time before this grand jury.

Special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, according to sources, has not given Rove any assurance he will not face indictment as this probe continues into the public disclosure of Valerie Plame's identity. Plame, who was an undercover operative for the CIA, is the wife of Joseph Wilson, who had become a harsh critic about the administration's claims about Iraq and weapons of mass destruction. After an uproar following the disclosure of Plame's identity in 2003, Fitzgerald began his investigation. Under pressure, including in one celebrated case jailtime, several reporters testified. Some, including "Time" magazine's Matthew Cooper, said they had discussed the matter with Rove. Rove's lawyer repeatedly insisted his client did not identify Plame as a secret agent, did not know she was one. He also contends, Rove is appearing voluntary, that he's not received a so-called target letter, which would identify him as a person the grand jury was likely to indict.

Also named a source for reporters is the vice president's chief of staff, Lewis "Scooter" Libby.

As Fitzgerald's prolonged investigation seems to be entering its final phases, the president continues to dodge questions about whether he will remove anyone from his administration who might be indicted.

BUSH: I'm not going to talk about it until the investigation is complete. It's important that the investigation run its course.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FRANKEN: Rove's lawyer says he has been assured that the prosecutor has not decided yet whether there will be any charges. Of course that means he has not decided there won't be any charges -- Miles. M. O'BRIEN: Interesting at this point you can make that statement. The grand jury term expires October 28th, and now a fourth appearance by rove. What lies ahead? Are there going to be additional witnesses, you think?

FRANKEN: Well, there could be an extension of the grand jury, but they are expecting additional witnesses, and the fourth appearance by Karl Rove is definitely very unusual. What it says is that, for one reason or another, he has some more explaining to do.

M. O'BRIEN: Bob Franken in Washington, thanks -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Well, the International Atomic Energy Agency and its chief, Mohamed ElBaradei, have won the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize. ElBaradei and the IAEA were announced as the winners just about two hours ago. The Nobel Committee is recognizing the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog agency for working to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons. IAEA spokesman Melissa Flemming reacted to the announcement.

MELISSA FLEMMING, IAEA SPOKESWOMAN: All I can say, first reaction one minute after the announcement is we are just elated. Actually, quite stunned. We really didn't expect that we would be the recipients of this prize. We certainly think the cause is worthwhile and we're a very proud agency today, and we're extremely proud of our director general, Mohamed ElBaradei.

QUESTION: What consequences do you expect from this?

FLEMMING: I certainly think that the organization will get added recognition and added support, and hopefully the cause of nuclear security will be (INAUDIBLE).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: They've been named as possible winners for the last three years. This year, it actually came true. ElBaradei has headed the agency as its dealt with suspected WMDs in Iraq, and the effort to stop nuclear proliferation in North Korea and Iran as well.

(WEATHER REPORT)

M. O'BRIEN: Still to come on the program, a difficult choice for some New Orleans homeowners. The question is, can something like that be saved? What do you do? Do you bulldoze it or pull out the sheetrock and start over and fix it up? We'll get an expert's advice.

S. O'BRIEN: Also ahead this morning, we're going to talk to the man who is in charge of guiding Supreme court nominee Harriet Miers through her confirmation process. Find out if he is surprised about the vocal opposition from conservatives.

M. O'BRIEN: Plus, more on that New York City subway threat. The question is, how serious is it? How specific? Even in the federal government circle, there seems to be some confusion about this. We'll try to sort it out, next on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Live pictures. I bet you can guess which station that is. That's Pennsylvania Station, 34th Street in New York this morning. People on their way to work. Probably thinking twice in some respects, looking a little closer. At least if they're listening to the mayor, they should be. Continuing our CNN Security Watch on the threat against New York City subways, the city's mayor says it's not the kind of information you see in the intelligence community every day. But officials in Washington are downplaying the threat. They're calling it uncorroborated and of doubtful credibility. So we're scratching our heads once again.

CNN Security analyst, Pat D'Amuro former head of the FBI's New York office.

Pat, you've got say the mayor saying this is very specific. We haven't had a threat that is this specific before. We're talking about baby strollers, and briefcases and so forth, and then you have the Department of Homeland Security saying, you know, maybe it's not as good a source as we think. What are we supposed to do, those of us who want to get to work this morning?

PAT D'AMURO, FMR. ASST. DIR., FBI: Well, again, that's why it's confusing to the population, because you have differences of opinion here. From what I'm hearing, the federal government felt that this was, as you said, unreliable, uncorroborated. But enough information got out, through Homeland Security and through other agencies and the police departments, that I think the mayor and the police commissioner felt they needed to make a public statement.

M. O'BRIEN: They needed to because it was out there and they felt they had to clear up any confusion. Of course, we're still confused, but at least the attempt there is to get it out because it was kind of bubbling out anyway?

D'AMURO: It's confusing because it's classified information. And whenever you hear that, the federal government is very cautious about what type of information they put out, because you need to protect either a source whose life could depend on not disclosing too much of that information, or a technical intercept, that they don't want to lose technical capability.

M. O'BRIEN: All right, let's talk as a practical matter, when you have specific information like this, backpacks, baby strollers, they tell you to look out, well, the subway car are going to be filled with backpacks and baby strollers. What are people supposed to do about this?

D'AMURO: Well, that is usually the mode of transportation that people use to carry books and whatever. So you're going to see a lot of those. And I think the statement made by Commissioner Kelly was because that's what they are going to be checking a lot of. I'm not sure the information is specific to that type of device, but what we know is that that's how people will bring things into the subway system, so they're going to check more of them. M. O'BRIEN: All right, it is no surprise, particularly in the wake of all we've seen this summer in London, that the subway system, the transit systems, might be a target. In a sense here, are you surprised they haven't been to date?

D'AMURO: Well, in a way, yes. But we know that the subway system here in New York has been threatened; going back to 1997, there was a plot to bring in some pipe bombs into the subway system. So it is a threat that is ongoing, that has been with us for sometime and will be here for some time to come. It's a very difficult area to protect.

M. O'BRIEN: Now we were just looking at some Department of Homeland Security budget figures. And for fiscal year 2006, they are suggesting an $83 million cut in surface-transportation security funding, from $150 million to $32 million, only $32 million, versus a $4.98 billion expenditure on aviation. Is the transportation security administration, Department of Homeland Security, fighting the last war here?

D'AMURO: Well, we heard the president say that there's going to cuts in the budget outside of the military because of the war and because of Katrina. The cuts have to come from someplace.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes, but the overall budget for DHS goes up. So it's clear that they're shifting it toward aviation, and it seems as if there should be a focus on ground transportation.

D'AMURO: Well, there should be a focus on all types of transportation, not just ground the transportation, but air. I don't think air transportation is still where it should be, even though they have moved leaps ahead from where they were of 9/11. Why these cuts are coming at this time, we're not sure.

M. O'BRIEN: All right, let's talk about the strange timing. The president gives a big speech on terror. All of a sudden, there is heightened alert on the New York City subways. Are all of these just coincidences?

D'AMURO: I'm not sure the federal government really felt they should go out in a press conference-type situation yesterday. From what I'm hearing, they really didn't think it was significant enough to put that information out. Again, when information leaks out, I guess the mayor and the police commissioner felt they had to advise the public that this information was out there.

M. O'BRIEN: It is an election season in New York, too.

D'AMURO: It is.

M. O'BRIEN: All right, Pat D'Amuro, security analyst. Always a pleasure. Stay with CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, we're "Minding Your Business." You know all those no-bid contracts that were handed out after Hurricane Katrina? Well, guess what? They're about to disappear. Andy's going to tell us what FEMA is doing to try to fix this problem, coming up next on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: A little news out of FEMA this morning. The new chief says post-Katrina contracts are going to be reopened for bidding. Andy Serwer is "Minding Your Business" this morning. This was hugely controversial when a lot of contracts went to people who didn't have to bid on them.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: That's right, much outcry over these, Soledad, $1.5 billion contracts. Yesterday acting FEMA director yesterday David Paulison telling Congress, quote, "All those no-bid contracts, we're going to go back and rebid." Music to the ears of many in Washington.

Let's take a look at some of these contracts, these are some of the biggies, over $100 million contracts with Bechtel and Flora (ph), other companies like that, providing housing for evacuees. Also the Shaw (ph) Group.

Interesting stuff. You know, Senator Lieberman suggested maybe we should have stand-by bids in process, where if there is a hurricane, companies would be ready to do this kind of work. That might be a good idea, Soledad.

And another interesting note here, do you remember the $250,000 limit on government credit cards? That's gone by the boards as well.

S. O'BRIEN: In case you had to buy a chopper?

SERWER: Right, exactly. Now the limit is $15,000. So I think we're getting kind of a reality check here in this process.

S. O'BRIEN: That's way down, isn't it?

SERWER: Yes, it sure is.

S. O'BRIEN: Boy, David Paulison has been busy. He's like no, no, no.

SERWER: It's about time.

S. O'BRIEN: All right. Andy, thanks -- Miles.

SERWER: You're welcome.

M. O'BRIEN: Still to come on the program, the battle ahead for the Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers. We'll talk to the man guiding her through what could be a tough confirmation process. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

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