Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live At Daybreak

CIA Leak Investigation; Another Round of Violence Boiling Up in Middle East

Aired October 27, 2005 - 06:00   ET

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

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: It is Thursday, October 27.
The White Sox win. How the other team from Chicago is coming home World Series champions.

Plus, the CIA leak investigation -- after almost two years, is the legal waiting game finally coming to an end?

And Sheryl Swoopes says she's gay. So why did she come out now?

ANNOUNCER: From the Time Warner Center in New York, this is DAYBREAK with Carol Costello.

COSTELLO: And good morning to you.

We'll have more on the CIA leak investigation in just a minute.

Also ahead, anti-war protesters arrested in front of the White House. You will know the name of one of them.

And you may have a drinking problem. Lisa Drayer is here with what beverages your body needs and when.

Now in the news, Israeli planes pound Gaza today in retaliation for a suicide bombing that killed five Israelis and wounded 28 at a marketplace. The Islamic Jihad militant group says the suicide bomber was retaliating for Monday's killing of one of its leaders on the West Bank.

A suicide car bombing today in Baghdad kills one civilian and injures four others. A policeman also killed in a separate incident and officials say the sister of the Iraqi construction and housing minister has been abducted.

There it is. You're going to see it. Yes, that little line drive, that was the winning hit. The Chicago White Sox are the World Series champions for the first time since 1917. The Black Sox? What's that?

The Sox whipped the Astros with a 1-0 win in Houston and the fans are loving it. And you will soon see members of the Chicago White Sox on the box of Wheaties -- Jacqui.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Oh, yes.

COSTELLO: Already in the works. JERAS: The Wheaties box. That's great. Congratulations to them and all the fans. A lot of people happy about that this morning.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: We may finally have some answers in the CIA leak investigation. The "Washington Post" is reporting that an announcement is expected tomorrow. The special prosecutor, Patrick Fitzgerald, may then reveal his decision on charges in the nearly 2- year-old case, or not.

CNN national correspondent Bob Franken -- Bob, OK, so the "Washington Post" says the announcement will come tomorrow.

Will it?

I mean what are you hearing?

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Maybe. Or it could happen today.

First of all, let me report what we do know. Patrick Fitzgerald has not arrived at the courthouse this morning. We're pretty certain about that. But he is probably spending a lot of his working hours putting the final touches on whatever he does or does not do. And the reason I put it that way is that we know that he spent a lot of time with the grand jury yesterday -- the grand jury nearing the end of its term -- discussing, we are told, the various aspects of this case. The possibility exists that secret indictments were handed down. The possibility exists that he will come back to the grand jury on Friday and seek whatever action that he might want to have the grand jury take.

Now, we do know that some of the focus of this investigation that has gone on nearly two years has been on top White House officials, including Deputy White House Chief of Staff Karl Rove, the president's chief political adviser. People who have let it be known what questions came up in the grand jury say that there have been questions about Rove and his contact with reporters preceding the disclosure of Valerie Plame as an undercover CIA operative.

Just to review in 10 seconds, she's the wife of Joe Wilson, who is an administration critic.

Now, the other person that we know who has been the focus has been "Scooter" Libby, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, the vice president's chief of staff. A lot of questions about his contact with reporters. Some questions about whether the vice president himself was involved in any of this. And there have been a collection of other White House aides and other figures, as the grand jury will now determine if any laws were broken, laws that include laws against disclosing somebody who is, in effect, classified, laws against perjury, false statements. All of those are now in the mix. We don't know, of course, because of the tremendous secrecy involved in this, exactly what the grand jury has done. One last thing we know, that there was a meeting with the chief judge who administers grand juries, a meeting between Fitzgerald and the chief judge yesterday. That leaves a lot of possible scenarios, all of which we have just discussed.

One thing we also know, Fitzgerald, Carol, is really good at keeping a secret.

COSTELLO: Oh, you're not kidding.

All right, so you'll keep your ear to the ground there in Washington.

Thank you, Bob Franken.

We'll see today whether Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers comes back with better answers to that Senate questionnaire. Last week, Senate Judiciary Chairman Arlen Specter called her response to the questionnaire incomplete. She was asked to re-submit it by Wednesday with more detailed answers. Miers' confirmation hearings begin on November 7.

Anti-war protester Cindy Sheehan has been arrested for the second time in two months. Sheehan was among 25 others arrested outside the White House last night. They'd refused to leave the sidewalk in front of the White House. The anti-war demonstration is part of a week long vigil.

In New York, there has been a ruling involving the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center. A jury has found the Port Authority negligent in that attack and that means relatives of the six people killed and hundreds injured in the attack can sue the Port Authority. That's the agency that operated the Trade Center. The jury said the agency didn't listen to its own security consultants, who had warned the garage was vulnerable. The Port Authority says it plans to appeal.

Another round of violence boiling up in the Middle East. Israel has launched a new military operation after a suicide bomber killed five Israelis in the city of Hadera. Islamic Jihad claims the attack was in retaliation for the killing of one of its leaders.

Live now to Jerusalem and John Vause for more on the violence -- hello, John.

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Carol.

The Israeli government ordered those missile strikes from the air on the Gaza Strip just hours after the suicide bombing in the coastal city of Hadera. Overnight, there were two rounds of air strikes targeting a bridge and a road; also an open field, which Israeli intelligence believes was used by Palestinian militants to fire rockets from Gaza into Israel.

So far, no reports of casualties from Gaza. Also in the West Bank, security at checkpoints is being increased. That will make it difficult for Palestinians to travel through the West Bank; also, from the West Bank into Israel. Access has been closed down for all Palestinians.

A large number of Israeli troops have already been deployed to the northern part of the West Bank. They've been there for about a month, arresting Palestinian militants. Those arrests have been ordered to be increased. The Israeli prime minister ordering troops to go door-to-door if necessary from town and from village.

The Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, putting the blame on the Pale -- for the suicide bombing in Hadera -- on the Palestinian Authority, saying that President Mahmoud Abbas simply has done nothing to try and stop these terror attacks against Israeli targets, which left five Israelis dead in the latest suicide bombing in Hadera. So far, more than 20 people are still being treated in hospital today.

The suicide bomber was a 20-year-old man from a village not far from the town of Jenin in the West Bank. Now, according to witnesses, he simply walked into that open air market. He stood in line for a while and then blew himself up. This is the first suicide bombing inside Israel since August. But, importantly, Carol, this is the first suicide bombing since the Israelis withdrew from the Gaza Strip completely last month -- Carol.

COSTELLO: I know. And we were all so hopeful that that would make a difference.

John Vause reporting live from Jerusalem this morning.

Still to come this hour on DAYBREAK, Florida Governor Jeb Bush asks why his state wasn't more prepared for hurricane Wilma.

But is it really that simple?

Plus, Sheryl Swoopes says she's gay. Will her admission affect her career?

And the White Sox win. The team from the other side of town capture their first championship since World War 1.

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Oh, take a look at the Chicago skyline this morning. Isn't it obvious that the White Sox won the World Series? In fact, some people are in the building still celebrating. We're going to take you to Chicago in a second.

Chicago sports fans, you know, they can finally celebrate again now that the White Sox have won the World Series.

Let's take a little look. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We did it!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mom and dad (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People are bringing it home!

COSTELLO: Yes, some people are, indeed, in tears because their Sox won because, you know, it hasn't happened for a long time. And as I said, we're going to take you live to Chicago to talk to some of the celebrants, because they're still out there at 6:12 Eastern in the morning.

You know, most of these Sox fans weren't even alive since they last won the World Series, which was, what, back in 1917?

Anyway, CNN Radio's Ed McCarthy is in Houston this morning.

He was at all four games and he joins us to tell us what it was like on the field -- good morning, Ed.

ED MCCARTHY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, good morning.

How are you this morning?

It was just an incredible morning after the game last night.

Well, last night the Chicago White Sox, when they won, they ran out into the middle of the field and obviously their hands and fists pumped in excitement as they ran around and hugged each other. And then they had the celebration.

There were about 100 Chicago White Sox fans that gathered on the other end of where I was, from the outfield, right after the game ended. And they were chanting. It was very, very exciting for them.

A little bit disappointing for the Houston Astros' fans, but it was the first time in for the Astros and they'll probably have another chance down the road.

Eighty-eight years for the White Sox is a long time. Last year it was 86 for the Red Sox. So we have a lot of teams now that are starting to get in after suffering for so long.

COSTELLO: Yes. Maybe it's the decade of the Sox.

Hey, you know, Jermaine Dye hit the line drive that won the game last night. He's the Series MVP.

Let's listen to what he has to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JERMAINE DYE, WORLD SERIES MVP: We all worked hard to do whatever we could to help this team win and guys came up with big hits in a lot of situations and, you know, it's just special for me to be thought of as, you know, MVP and becoming an MVP in that group. (END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: You know, Ozzie Guillen, the manager of the White Sox, his reaction was interesting to me, because he has said that he might retire after this.

Is he serious?

MCCARTHY: I don't think he's serious. You know, he said that and people were saying before the World Series even started, I remember standing in front of the stadium in Chicago and they're saying now, could he be serious about this? And everybody looks at each other and they shake their head no. They don't think so.

Certainly not. I mean he's got a bright career ahead of him as a baseball manager. And certainly he kept that team together when they had their slide in August and September and people were starting to question them.

They had a 15 game lead that dwindled to a game-and-a-half. And they held on and look at them. They've won every game in the World Series to be the kings of baseball.

COSTELLO: Excellent.

Ed McCarthy, thank you, joining us live from Houston.

You saw all the celebrants in Chicago.

So let's head there now.

Reporter Anne Kavanagh of CNN affiliate WFLD joins us.

Well, nice. That's nice. Donuts that spell Sox.

ANNE KAVANAGH, WFLD CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Well, this is our -- this is what we're having this morning here on the South Side of Chicago. White Sox donuts. No champagne. But the party is continuing here.

This is the Sox special.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Sox special.

KAVANAGH: We're just...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) from Chicago.

KAVANAGH: We're in the Bridgeport neighborhood, just a short distance from the cell where the White Sox played.

These people have been partying all night and now they're having their breakfast.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes! Go White Sox!

KAVANAGH: How big of a deal is this?

We've waited 88 years.

What big a deal is this?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is a big deal. I'm tired, but happy. I don't sleep last night.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Unbelievable!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But we're here! Go, Ozzie, go! We need you for next year, Ozzie.

KAVANAGH: Did you ever have any doubt? Because the Sox have been the underdog even here in Chicago.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, because they were great as a team. They were united and it's something you hardly ever see nowadays. I knew that they were going to make it. Oh my god. It's like the best thing ever. I cannot describe it.

KAVANAGH: You're almost in tears right now.

Now, Ozzie Guillen has said that he would retire if the Sox won the World Series.

What message do you have to Ozzie today?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ozzie, you're part of Chicago. Never leave Chicago. Wait until New York. Repeat!

KAVANAGH: Repeat! That's the mantra here in Chicago.

We're eating White Sox donuts and we're thinking repeat. And we want Ozzie Guillen to stay, right, guys?

Back to you in Atlanta.

COSTELLO: Actually, we're in New York.

You guys are way too boisterous for this early in the morning. But I completely understand.

Anne Kavanagh, thank you for joining DAYBREAK this morning.

Wow!

A DAYBREAK follow-up for you this morning.

Air Force Academy football coach Fisher DeBerry has now apologized for comments he made about minority recruitment. Now, you may remember he said African-American athletes can run faster than other players. DeBerry now says he regrets that statement and asks for everyone's forgiveness but insists he will not step down. And the Academy is standing by him and not asking him to resign. Still to come this hour, Wilma's wrath has brought long lines for gas and ice, but was Governor Jeb Bush right in telling people they should have bought more supplies?

Plus, how to know if what quenches your thirst is what you need for your body. We'll tell you what to drink and when, and what's best.

But first, let's say good morning again to Chicago.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Time for a little "Business Buzz."

It is 6:19 Eastern time.

There is more trouble for General Motors this morning. The company now faces an investigation into its books.

Carrie Lee joins us with that story -- not exactly what they need right now.

CARRIE LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Can there be any more bad news with this company?

Well, this is a big deal, Carol.

General Motors, the big three out of Detroit already facing weak sales and high costs for everything from health care to materials. Well, now the SEC is investigating the company's accounting. They've issued a subpoena regarding G.M.'s pension plans and are questioning transactions between G.M. and bankrupt auto parts maker Delphi. And G.M.'s finance unit, GMAC, is also being probed in connection with a separate insurance industry investigation.

G.M. says it's cooperating with the investigations. Also remember, earlier this week, G.M.'s competitor, Chrysler, also said it had received a subpoena related to the G.M. probe. So the demand for records here not a complete surprise.

Now, the big question -- does G.M. manipulate profits by using unreasonable methods to value pension assets and liabilities? This is just the latest in a long list of troubles. Remember last week they reported a big loss for the third quarter. They've also indicated that November U.S. sales aren't going to be so hot. They're even thinking of selling or spinning off that GMAC unit, which is its most profitable.

So that just gives you an example of how dire things are.

COSTELLO: I bet they'll want to get rid of it now!

LEE: Yes, well, they probably need the money. And, you know, now they're coming from a point of strength, certainly.

COSTELLO: But how valuable is it going to be now that this scandal is associated with it?

LEE: Well, that's the thing, I mean nothing has been proven at this point, that G.M. is doing anything wrong. But when investigations go on like this, obviously it doesn't bode well for confidence. Last night, G.M.'s shares lost 2 percent.

COSTELLO: Wow!

LEE: We'll see what they do today.

COSTELLO: Yes.

Let's take a look at the other futures this morning.

LEE: Yes, taking a look at the futures, stocks pointing to a lower open. A couple of econ reports coming out, new home sales. But we're so far looking a bit lower, in part because of this G.M. story.

COSTELLO: Yes.

Thank you, Carrie.

LEE: OK.

COSTELLO: Still to come on DAYBREAK, are you drinking what your body needs when it needs it?

Lisa Drayer is here to explain.

We'll be right back.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WALTER UPDEGRAVE, SENIOR EDITOR, "MONEY": Index funds are basically a mutual fund that hold all the securities in a well known index, for example, something like the Standard & Poor's 500. A mutual fund might hold all 500 stocks in the S&P 500 or it could hold all of the stocks in the Dow Industrial average.

So basically an index fund is nothing more than a portfolio that holds all the stocks in an index. And its sole purpose is to try to get the index return.

So I think index funds are good for somebody who doesn't want to worry about what kind of fund they should be picking. Another good thing about index funds is they tend to be tax efficient. And, also, somebody who just wants a kind of a quick choice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: OK, let's face it, if you're trying to lose weight, have a healthy baby or just live a good life, you're focused on what you eat. But according to the latest issue of "Women's Health" magazine, knowing what to drink and when to drink it may be equally important.

Lisa Drayer is a contributor to "Women's Health" and she joins us now to explain this.

LISA DRAYER, "WOMEN'S HEALTH" MAGAZINE: That's right, Carol. Pretty neat stuff, right?

According to "Women's Health" magazine, what you drink can help us boost fertility, help us shed pounds and sharpen our brains. So lots of interesting opportunities to get health benefits from beverages.

COSTELLO: Interesting.

OK, so let's start off with if you want to lose weight.

What do you drink?

DRAYER: Right. Well, typically we think that soft drinks and fruit drinks are associated with weight gain, and that's true. There is one Harvard study that found that -- over 90,000 women were looked at and those who drank the most sugar sweetened beverages did have increased risk for weight gain and diabetes.

However, some beverages can actually help us shed pounds. For example, vegetable juice like V8...

COSTELLO: Really?

DRAYER: Yes. We may not love the taste of it, but, in fact, V8 seems to quench our hunger in addition to our thirst. It's thought to have something to do with the viscosity or the thickness of the beverage.

So individuals at Penn State who drank vegetable juice before lunch ate fewer total calories at lunch compared to when they didn't drink it.

COSTELLO: Interesting.

OK, so what about having a healthy baby? It's hard to believe you can actually drink something to boost your fertility.

DRAYER: Right. Well, here we're talking about folic acid. This is the B vitamin that's really important in protecting against neural tube defects such as spin bifida, where there's no fusion of the spinal column. And orange juice has 100 micrograms. Which means that's 25 percent of what we should be getting if we're planning on becoming pregnant and one sixth of our needs during pregnancy. So really important to get folic acid.

You can also get it from fortified cereals, broccoli and spinach, as well.

COSTELLO: Oh, I love broccoli.

So I enjoy exercise.

What should I be drinking?

DRAYER: OK, here we have two beverages that provide benefits for workouts. So during your workout, you may want to try green tea. This is really neat, Carol. There was a study that found that green tea extract boosted endurance. That is, researchers followed mice that were swimming.

COSTELLO: Oh, wow!

DRAYER: Yes. Yea, it was actually pretty funny to read this. But basically the mice had increased endurance. They were able to last longer when they had the green tea extract compared to when they didn't have it.

Now, researchers do think that the same results would apply to humans. So the theory is that if humans drank some green tea beverages before the workout that they would have similar effects. But we do need to see more studies on this.

COSTELLO: Interesting, though.

What about, you know, recovering from your exercise routine if you've really -- if you're drinking green tea and you're going like 80 miles an hour?

DRAYER: Chase it with fat-free chocolate milk.

COSTELLO: No!

DRAYER: Yes. Yea, believe it. Fat-free, though. Not with the fat. Because fat takes longer to digest. Not good after a workout. But, in fact, milk itself contains a combination of protein and carbohydrates, both very important for muscle recovery. Protein for muscle repair, carbohydrates to replenish our muscle glycogen or our muscle carbohydrate stores.

So there's the combination there. And cocoa is an excellent source of anti-oxidants, in addition to helping in many other ways. It's thought that anti-oxidants may help protect against those free radicals, that oxidation that happens that may actually decrease exercise performance and cause muscle achiness.

COSTELLO: I've got to tell you, though, the last thing I want to drink after a hard workout is chocolate milk, because it just doesn't sound good after that.

DRAYER: I haven't tried it yet myself.

COSTELLO: Who.

OK, so I drink a lot of coffee and I need a lot of coffee to get me through the day.

Am I doing the right thing? DRAYER: Actually, Carol, I'm not sure how much you're drinking, but you may want to cut back. The reason is caffeine is great for that quick boost. We get a perk right away. But we then crash.

COSTELLO: Yes.

DRAYER: So it gives us a temporary lift, but then we crash so we need more to keep going throughout the day.

Water will give us more lasting energy. And, in fact, when we're dehydrated, we often feel fatigued and sluggish.

COSTELLO: Right.

DRAYER: It's simply a result of being dehydrated. So water can help to prevent that from happening.

COSTELLO: But it doesn't have the psychological effects of coffee.

DRAYER: No, it doesn't.

COSTELLO: I know.

Lisa Drayer, thanks for being here this morning.

DRAYER: Thanks.

COSTELLO: Still to come this hour on DAYBREAK, Wilma's aftermath. People sitting in gas lines for hours just to refuel. Is the situation getting any better? We take you live to Sunny Isles, Florida.

Plus, Sheryl Swoopes tells "ESPN" magazine that she's gay. So why did she come out now? I'll ask the reporter who wrote that article.

You're watching DAYBREAK on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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