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The Situation Room
Bush Nominates Alito to Supreme Court; Interview With Joe Wilson
Aired October 31, 2005 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, HOST: Welcome to our special edition of THE SITUATION ROOM, where new pictures and information are arriving all the time. Standing by, CNN reporters across the United States and around the world, to bring you the day's top stories.
Happening now at 7:00 p.m. here in Washington, where there is a new nomination and new controversy. A battle shapes up as the president picks a staunch conservative who could help reshape the U.S. Supreme Court. Will the opening skirmish be fought over abortion rights?
Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief aide gets a court date. Should other heads roll? I'll ask the former U.S. ambassador Joe Wilson, whose wife was outed in the CIA leak case. And almost a million are still without power a week after Wilma whipped across South Florida. And there are new worries, why did all the hurricane windows blow out of those high-rise buildings? You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.
Thanks very much for joining us. Anderson Cooper is off this week. We'll be on in his place all week.
It's one of the most important decisions a president can make. The pummeling of his previous Supreme Court pick left President Bush on the ropes himself. Today, he tried to bounce back, nominating Samuel Alito, a veteran federal appeals court judge. But while Alito's strong conservative record is already winning back the harshest critics of the Harriet Miers nomination, Democrats are ringing alarm bells and getting ready for a fight.
CNN chief national correspondent John King is standing by. But let's begin our coverage at the White House with Suzanne Malveaux -- Suzanne.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, it's expected to be a contentious fight, of course. But White House insiders say that this is a battle that was really necessary and needed some six weeks ago. One Republican insider saying that, look, the thinking behind Miers is that the lady down the hall is better than the one down the street, because she's closer, but that insider saying it only works if you're at a grocery store, certainly not for the Supreme Court nomination process. He said, of course, that believes that President Bush has made the right strategic choice.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) MALVEAUX (voice-over): He was the runner-up turned frontrunner.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm pleased to announce my nomination of Judge Samuel A. Alito, Jr. as associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.
MALVEAUX: The man some are calling the anti-Miers, a judge who had been on the short list since Mr. Bush first took office five years ago, who quickly emerged as an early favorite after Justice Sandra Day O'Connor announced she'd be stepping down, taking a back seat to John Roberts and then Harriet Miers.
BUSH: I've known Harriet for more than a decade. I know her heart. I know her character.
MALVEAUX: While conservatives roundly rejected Miers for being an unqualified Bush crony with a scant judicial record, President Bush made a point to emphasize that Alito had the judicial philosophy and qualifications the conservatives were looking for.
BUSH: Judge Alito has served with distinction on that court for 15 years and now has more prior judicial experience than any Supreme Court nominee in more than 70 years.
MALVEAUX: Friday afternoon, the president talked to Alito about the job before leaving for Camp David with Miers. White House insiders say the Alito nomination is the president's chance for a do- over, to give Republicans just the kind of red meat they've been looking for, to bring back the base, reunite the party, and save the president from becoming a lame duck.
BAY BUCHANAN, THE AMERICAN CAUSE: It's terrific news. And there's real energy in our base again. We're coming home, Mr. President.
MALVEAUX: The president is now preparing to battle the Democrats and the potential for a filibuster.
BUSH: And I urge the Senate to act promptly on this important nomination so that an up-or-down vote is held before the end of this year.
MALVEAUX: But political observers say the president has been substantially weakened by the ongoing violence in Iraq, the slow response to Hurricane Katrina, and the recent indictment of one of his top aides. They say pushing his nominee and his legislative agenda will be challenging if he alienates moderates.
LANNY DAVIS, FMR. WHITE HOUSE SPECIAL COUNSEL: I think his political capital will be narrow and weak unless he seeks to reach out to the great center of this country.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: But the Bush administration is not backing down from what could be a big partisan fight. As a matter of fact, Wolf, some Republican insiders say that is exactly what's needed to help define GOP candidates for election 2006 -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Suzanne Malveaux at the White House, thank you.
On Capitol Hill and right here in THE SITUATION ROOM, senators already are sparring over the Alito nomination. I spoke today with two senior members of the Judiciary Committee, Republican Orrin Hatch and Democrat Ted Kennedy. They are bracing for an ideological battle, this time between the right and the left.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. EDWARD KENNEDY (D-MA), JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: We know that it was sort of the extreme right wing of the president's own party that sank the previous nominee. I think many of us want to know why they're so ecstatically happy today. What do they know that the rest of either the judiciary and the American people don't know?
SEN. ORRIN HATCH (R-UT), JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: President Bush was very straightforward about it. He said it in the year 2000, he also said it in the year 2004, that he's going to appoint people to the bench who are strict constructionists, in other words people who believe in interpreting the laws, not making them.
Alito is a perfect illustration of that. You know, it's nothing more or less than what the president said he was going to do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: The most contentious issue in confirmation hearings is likely to be abortion rights. If confirmed, could Alito help swing the Supreme Court away from abortion rights? Let's turn to our chief national correspondent, John King -- John.
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, Alito's mother was called by a newspaper reporter today. She was asked if her Roman Catholic son opposes abortion, and she says, of course he does. If that is true, and the judge carries that opinion to the Supreme Court, it could tip the balance on a very political and very divisive issue.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CROWD (chanting): No, no, no! Alito will not save Roe!
KING (voice-over): Abortion is the first battle line in the nomination fight over Judge Samuel Alito, in part because of his record, in part because of where he would fit in this class photo.
NAN ARON, ALLIANCE FOR JUSTICE: He is filling the seat of Sandra Day O'Connor, a moderate justice, a justice in favor of women's rights and civil rights. He is not the right one.
KING: Justice O'Connor is the high court's swing vote on abortion, affirmative action and many other contentious issues.
In Alito, many conservatives see a chance to realize their long- held goal of shifting the court reliably to the right.
WENDY LONG, JUDICIAL CONFIRMATION NETWORK: Well, we have no idea how he'll vote in exact abortion cases that will come before the court, but we do know one thing, he will be faithful to the Constitution and he'll respect the role of people to make laws for themselves instead of having judges make it up.
KING: In 15 years as a federal judge, Alito has not ruled on a direct challenge to the landmark Roe versus Wade abortion rights case, but he did support a Pennsylvania law requiring women to notify their spouses before an abortion, suggesting he would grant states more powers than O'Connor in restricting abortion access.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: National Organization for Women.
KING: Which is why the National Organization of Women immediately announced its opposition.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're urging everybody to write their senators and express how they feel about this nominee that's anti- choice.
KING: Judge Alito has, however, joined rulings overturning state abortion restrictions for failing to meet Supreme Court tests, and declaring an unborn child is not recognized as a person under the law.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, General Meese, are you on with us? Very good.
ED MEESE, FORMER ATTORNEY GENERAL: Yeah. I would just say that I think President Bush has made an outstanding decision in nominating Judge Alito.
KING: Many conservatives say Judge Alito had no choice but to follow precedent in those cases, but a former law clerk says anyone expecting an ideologue on social issues, like abortion and gay rights, is likely to be disappointed.
ADAM CIONGOLI, FORMER ALITO LAW CLERK: If they think that this is going to be an opportunity for someone to go in and wholesale change the culture, then they may be looking for somebody else. I mean, Judge Alito is going to be a restrained judge.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KING: Now, if Judge Alito wins Senate confirmation, it won't be in time for next month's arguments at the high court on a New Hampshire case involving abortion restrictions. But the power of the states and indeed the federal government to restrict so-called late- term abortions is likely to be on the court's docket next year, and Wolf, that could be the first big test of whether an Alito for O'Connor switch on the high court tilts the balance on abortion rights.
BLITZER: John King reporting for us. John, thank you very much.
Let's get some more on this story. Jack Cafferty standing by in New York. Hi, Jack.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: You know, arguably, Wolf, the hearings for Judge Alito are not going to be as potentially entertaining as the Harriet Miers hearings might have been, but nevertheless, when the subject of abortion comes up at those hearings, you want to have your VCR set, because it doesn't get much more hot- button than that subject, and given the ideological division between Republicans, conservative ones and Democrats on that subject, these hearings could be pretty entertaining, although not matching the Harriet Miers ones.
The concern is not whether Mr. Alito is going to vote to overturn Roe v Wade. There is no indication he would vote to do that, and even if he did, the landmark ruling would stand anyway.
The worry is he'll shift the court to the right on how the far the government can go in restricting a woman's access to abortion. Spousal notification, the right of a minor to get an abortion without her parents being notified, things like that.
Politicians and lobbyist on the right and left lining up for what should be a pier six brawl. President Bush wants an up-or-down vote -- that's code speak for, please, no filibuster. He doesn't want the Democrats to filibuster the nomination. He'd like the up-or-down vote by the end of the year. Very much an open question whether he's going to get that by then or not.
The question this hour then is this: How big an issue will abortion be, when it ultimately comes to Judge Alito's confirmation? E-mail us your thoughts at caffertyfile@cnn.com, and sometime within the next 45 minutes we'll read some of your answers.
BLITZER: Looking forward to it, Jack. Thank you very much.
"The Cafferty File," Jack Cafferty.
Still ahead, the CIA leak case. The former U.S. ambassador Joe Wilson and his wife say they were wronged.
Does he think the indictment of Lewis Scooter Libby is putting things right?
My interview with Joe Wilson right here in THE SITUATION ROOM, that's coming up.
Plus, Florida after Wilma. Windows broken and a sense of security shattered. What went wrong in those condos on the coast?
And an honor Rosa Parks could have never imagined 50 years ago, when the civil rights heroine refused to give up the seat on a bus.
You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: My interview with the former U.S. Ambassador Joe Wilson on the CIA leak, that's coming up shortly.
First, though, CNN's Zain Verjee standing by at the CNN Center in Atlanta with a closer look at some other stories making news.
Hi, Zain.
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, Wolf.
We're following a developing story in San Francisco. Emergency crews are on the scene of an explosion in the fire in the city's densely populated Mission District.
We are told this is an equipment rental yard and apparently a large propane tank exploded there within the last few minutes. The building itself is almost destroyed, but so far, we're not hearing any word of any deaths or injuries.
Six more U.S. soldiers have been killed by roadside bombs in Iraq with more than 90 people dead in the last four weeks. That makes October the deadliest month for U.S. forces in Iraq since January.
There was also a car bombing today in the southern Iraqi city of Basra. It killed at least 15 people and wounded 50 in a busy commercial area. The attack happened at about 8:30 in the evening local time, when the streets were crowded with people out, going dining and shopping.
The United Nations is demanding cooperation from Syria in its investigation of the death of the former Lebanese Prime Minister, Rafik al-Hariri, saying its patience has its limits.
The U.N. Security council voted unanimously today in favor of a resolution threatening further action if Syria does not comply. Former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri was killed by a car bomb in February and the U.N. report concluded that Syria was involved.
Rosa Parks will be buried in Detroit. Today, in Washington, the tiny woman who became a civil rights pioneer was remembered as a national hero.
The service at Washington's Metropolitan Methodist Episcopal Church honored Parks as the person who touched off the modern movement against segregation. President Bush ordered flags to fly at half staff on Wednesday. Wolf?
BLITZER: On the Syria/U.N. story, Zain, how are the Arab countries reacting? Are they backing Syria?
VERJEE: Well, you know, Wolf, Syria is essentially saying look, this whole report was politically motivated. It said it's cooperated with the investigation, but the investigator has not really come up with any hard evidence. Today, Bashar Al-Assad, the president of Syria said look, got to have an Arab league meeting here, you know, I need you to back me on this. But many Arab diplomats, Wolf, are saying that it's unlikely that many of them will back Syria because they really don't want their ties to be affected with the U.S., with France, with Britain. Those are the three countries that sponsored the resolution and many analysts saying this day, Wolf, that Syria looks increasingly isolated.
BLITZER: Zain Verjee, with us thanks.
Thanks Zain, very much.
BLITZER: The storm is gone, but the affects of Hurricane Wilma will linger for weeks, even months. More than 800,000 homes and businesses are without power a week after the storm. And officials say as many as 160,000 of those customers could be in the dark until almost Thanksgiving.
Farmers still are assessing the damage Wilma did to their crops. Early estimates put the damage to Florida's citrus alone at $180 million.
But even the damage to agricultural may be eclipsed by the damage done to homes and businesses.
CNN's Rusty Dornin is in Miami with more on this part of the story.
Rusty?
RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, a light rain is falling in Miami, which does not make thousands of people very happy, of course, who are trying to fix their roofs and things like that that were damaged in Hurricane Wilma.
Just to give you an idea of the kind of damage it caused in Miami, which was the least damaged of the three counties, just show you a sea plane that is here on the tarmac that was completely lifted up, flipped over and crashed over from the storm. Things like this are making people question the rating of Wilma.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can't really tell what's going on.
DORNIN: When Wilma whipped over Miami, it was billed as a Category 1 Hurricane. This video was shot by a resident of the Grand Palace condominiums during the storm.
Nearly every window in one section of this complex was blown in or popped out. And that caused some walls to collapse.
Building owner Charles Edwards says, no way Wilma was on the low end of the hurricane scale.
DORNIN: Do you think this was a Category 1?
CHARLES EDWARDS, BUILDING OWNER: No, it definitely was not. In fact, we had refrigerators, full-sized new, refrigerators sucked from the kitchen into the living room in two apartments.
DORNIN: Edwards isn't the only one who questioned the category. Many in south Florida have wondered about severe damage in some areas. Arnold Braun was in his condo when the next door neighbor's window blew out. That caused his wall to collapse.
ARNOLD BRAUN, FLORIDA RESIDENT: The wind is blowing hard and all of the start, this thing starts to shake.
DORNIN: Here along Brickell Avenue in several high-rises, like checker boards, there are gaping holes. But, according the National Weather Service, Wilma was still a Category 1.
ROBERT MOLLEDA, NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE: There's nothing that I saw that leads us to believe that there were definitely were tornadoes. There could have been micro bursts, it could have been these things that we call mini swirls.
DORNIN: But, Edwards believes a tornado slammed his building. He says it has hurricane windows, but no window, he says, would take that kind of beating.
EDWARDS: What else sucks water out of swimming pools?
DORNIN: So, no matter what the scientists say, you believe there was a tornado here.
EDWARDS: Yes.
DORNIN: High-rise condos with windows on the world define the Miami skyline. But in south Florida, in order to see forever, residents might have to be willing to roll the dice.
Here's how -- if people want to live in Miami in a hurricane zone, and they want to have a beautiful view, on the waterfront --
EDWARDS: On the water front.
DORNIN: You take your chances?
EDWARDS: There is a risk.
DORNIN: It's a risk Arnold Braun says, he's willing to take.
BRAUN: I just think this building got lucky, it bit the bullet.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DORNIN: We spoke to a man a few hours ago who swears he saw two tornadoes. But, the spokesman for the National Weather Service flew south Florida today. He said, usually you see some kind of swath if there's been a tornado. He just didn't see any kind of evidence of that. So, they're still sticking to the guns on the Category 1. Wolf?
BLITZER: Rusty Dornin in Miami, thank you very much, Rusty. Still to come here in THE SITUATION ROOM, Joe Wilson. The former U.S. ambassador will find out which White House officials he wants fired. My one-on-one interview with Joe Wilson, that's coming up next.
Plus, bird flu in Canada. The virus is detected now for the first time across the border. But, is it the deadly strain? We'll take a closer look.
You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: The CIA leak indictment is moving forward. Lewis Scooter Libby is scheduled to be arraigned Thursday morning in a federal court right here in Washington. He may enter a plea on charges he lied about his role in the leak.
Today Vice President Cheney named two staffers to fill Libby's jobs as his chief of staff, and as a national security adviser.
Former U.S. Ambassador Joe Wilson has a vested interest in the CIA leak case. His wife, Valerie Plame Wilson is the CIA operative, who was outed after he questioned the Bush administration's justification for the Iraq war.
I talked with Wilson at length here in THE SITUATION ROOM earlier.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Do you have confidence in Patrick Fitzgerald, the special counsel who's investigated this leak?
JOSEPH WILSON, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR: Absolutely. In fact, I think the one thing that the indictment showed the other day is that our system of justice works; that, in a nation that is based upon the rule of law, no man is above the law. And that's what Pat Fitzgerald said and made very clear.
BLITZER: Are you, though, disappointed that he didn't charge anyone with outing your wife as an undercover CIA operative?
WILSON: Well, I think it's important to remember two things. One, he was unable to indict on anything other than the charges because, as he said, his investigation into this was impeded by the obstruction of justice and perjury.
And two, as he said, the state's interests were vindicated by the indictments that were handed down. And three, finally, this is not a crime against Joe Wilson or Valerie Wilson, it's a crime against the country, against the national security of the country.
So we have no vote in whether or not we're disappointed or not disappointed.
BLITZER: But you were hoping that someone would actually -- that you'd get to the bottom of this: Who decided to out your wife as a CIA operative?
WILSON: Well, I think we pretty much are at the bottom. We now know, both from Mr. Cooper's testimony, the Time reporter testimony, that Mr. Rove gave him Valerie's name; and we know from the indictment that Mr. Libby was going around giving...
BLITZER: But you understand why that's not a crime -- that wasn't deemed a crime by Patrick Fitzgerald?
WILSON: Well again, it has not been indicted as a crime yet because, as Mr. Fitzgerald said, his investigation into the bottom of this was impeded by the obstruction of justice -- and the investigation is ongoing.
BLITZER: So you're still looking toward that.
On August 21st, 2003, at a forum, you were quoted as saying this -- and I believe you did say this because we've talked about it: "At the end of the day, it's of keen interest to me to see whether or not we can get Karl Rove frog-marched out of the White House in handcuffs."
He's still working at the White House. He's the deputy White House chief of staff.
WILSON: And I think that Karl Rove should be fired. I think that this idea that you can, with impunity, call journalists and leak national security information is repugnant.
It is not fitting for a senior White House official. It is below any standard of ethical comportment, even if it is not technically illegal, because of the high standard of the Intelligence Identities Protection Act.
But nonetheless, there's now clear evidence that Mr. Rove was leaking classified information. Mr. Fitzgerald made it very clear. My wife was a covert officer at the time that these people were leaking her name.
I believe it's an abuse of the public trust. And even if he can't be convicted of it, I see no reason why somebody like that, why the president would want to have somebody like that working on his staff.
BLITZER: Well, forget about conviction. He hasn't even been charged with a crime.
WILSON: Again, it's now very clear that he leaked it. Mr. Cooper's sworn testimony indicates that. The e-mails indicate that.
BLITZER: Let's go through some of the criticism that's been leveled at you, afresh over these past several days since this whole leak investigation was coming to a boil last Friday.
A lot of your critics blame you for the eventual disclosure of your wife as a CIA operative, and they go back to that early May 2003 column by the New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof who first reports about an unnamed U.S. ambassador making this trip to Africa.
Were you the source, Nicholas Kristof's source, for that column?
WILSON: Well, I was a source for that column.
But let me just say two things. One, this has never been about Valerie or me. This has always been about the 16 words in the State of the Union address, first and foremost -- and then, second, about who leaked Valerie's name.
And I would point out to you that the indictment does not name Joe Wilson as somebody who leaked Valerie's name.
BLITZER: Well, the indictment doesn't name anyone necessarily as a crime in terms of leaking...
WILSON: The testimony that has been made public indicates that Mr. Libby and Mr. Rove leaked Valerie's name to the members of the press. There's nothing in any of the testimony to suggest that Joe Wilson did -- unlike what Mr. diGenova said on this program last week.
BLITZER: Why you tell Nicholas Kristof about your trip to Africa?
WILSON: I had attempted to talk directly to the State Department and to a number of Democratic senators and to get the record corrected. I felt that after it was clear that what the president was referring to in the State of the Union address was Niger and that the trip that I went on was based upon a transcription of these documents that later were shown to be forgeries.
It was important for the administration to correct the record.
BLITZER: Because, as you know, this was two months before the Robert Novak column appeared.
WILSON: It is an act of civic duty, it is what citizens across this country do every day in our democracy -- you hold your government to account for what your government says and does in the name of the American people.
This happened to be an area where I had certain expertise and experience.
BLITZER: The former CIA officer Robert Baer was quoted in Saturday's Washington Post as saying this: "The fact is, once your husband writes an op-ed piece and goes political, you have no immunity and that's the way Washington works."
In other words, he's one of those suggesting that, by your going public in various ways, your wife's identity was eventually going to be made known.
WILSON: Again, my name didn't appear in the indictment. There are instances of -- and you go to the Spy Museum here, you can see a number of high-profile people who served their country even though they had high-profile positions in different professions.
BLITZER: Even though some of your supporters were on this program last week -- Larry Johnson, a former CIA officer; Pat Lang, a former DIA intelligence analyst. They say your decision and your wife's decision to let her be photographed represented a major mistake because, if there were people out there who may have been endangered by her name, certainly when people might have seen her picture, they could have been further endangered.
WILSON: Her contacts and her network was endangered the minute that Bob Novak wrote the article. The photograph of her did not identify her in any way anybody could identify.
Now you asked me this question -- you've asked me this question three or four times...
BLITZER: About the photograph?
WILSON: About the photograph.
Now, I have never heard you ask the president about the layout in the Oval Office when they did the war layout. I've never heard you ask Mr. Wolfowitz about the layout in Vanity Fair. But you ask me all the time.
So let me just get this very clear: When one is faced with adversity, one of the ways one acts in the face of adversity is to try and bring a certain amount of humor to the situation. It's called irony.
And if people have no sense of humor or no sense of perspective on that, my response is: It's about time to get a life.
But in no way did that picture endanger anybody. What endangered people was the outing of her name, her maiden name, and, subsequently, the outing of the corporation that she worked for.
BLITZER: So you don't have any regrets about the Vanity Fair picture?
WILSON: I think it's a great picture. I think someday you will, too.
BLITZER: It's a great picture. But I mean the fact that...
WILSON: I think someday it, too, will be in the International Spy Museum.
BLITZER: But you don't think it was a mistake to do that?
WILSON: No.
BLITZER: OK. Let's talk about Joe diGenova, a former U.S. attorney, Republican. He was on this program, as you well know -- he among others suggesting: Well, she had a desk job, she was an analyst in the Counterproliferation Division at the CIA. She was no longer really what they call a NOC, someone working nonofficial cover overseas and that it was really no big deal.
WILSON: Well, I don't think Mr. diGenova knows what he's talking about in this particular matter. I would go back to the indictment and Mr. Fitzgerald's preamble in which he's made it clear: She was a classified officer. She was covered by the various statutes related to the handling of classified information.
It's as simple as that.
BLITZER: Did you ever go around in cocktail parties -- because this has been alleged against you as well -- before the Robert Novak column and boast "my wife, the CIA agent," "my wife works for the CIA"?
WILSON: Of course not.
First of all, have I five-year-old twins and so we don't go to very many cocktail parties. You've seen me at precisely one in the many years that we've been in Washington together. And that was actually a book party. And you did not see my wife there and you didn't hear me say anything about my wife at that.
BLITZER: How well-known was it that she worked for the CIA before the Novak column?
WILSON: It was not known outside the intelligence community. The day after the Novak article appeared, my sister-in-law, my brother's wife, turned to him and asked him: "Do you think Joe knows this?"
BLITZER: Your trip to Niger -- there's been some suggestion that she came up with the idea of sending you to Niger. And the Senate -- we've gone through this, but I'll let you respond since it keeps coming up over and over again -- the Select Committee on Intelligence that came out July 7th, 2004, last year said this:
"Interviews and documents provided to the committee" -- the Senate committee -- "indicated that his wife, a CPD" -- Counterproliferation Division -- "employee suggested his name for the trip."
Did she come up with the idea?
WILSON: No, that is not accurate. It doesn't reflect what happened. I was invited to a meeting. She conveyed that invitation from her superiors.
She also, at the request of superiors, provided them with sort of a list of my bona fides because they were doing contingency planning as to what they might want to do as a consequence of the outcome of the meeting, which was two days later after she wrote the report.
The reports officer, who apparently was quoted as saying that she offered up my name -- that's a quote -- came into her office subsequently and said that that was a misquote and he wanted to be reinterviewed by them.
That was contained in my letter back to Senator Roberts and Senator Hatch and Senator Bond after their additional views were published.
BLITZER: Larry Johnson, on this program last week, the former CIA officer, said your wife has been threatened by Al Qaeda. Is that true?
WILSON: I won't go into specific threats. I'll tell you that there have been threats. And as a consequence, we've been working closely with the appropriate law enforcement agencies. We've changed our phone number and taken other security measures.
BLITZER: You don't want to go into details on that?
WILSON: Absolutely not.
BLITZER: If you had to do it all over again, looking backwards, any changes you would have done?
WILSON: I would have written the article as I did because I believe -- I believe firmly -- that it is a civic responsibility to hold your government to account in a strong democracy. And I can't think of much I would have changed. I suspect that, given the two-year character assassination campaign which was really designed to divert attention from the two key issues -- the 16 words in the State of the Union address and who leaked Valerie's name -- that there may have been some things I might have done differently, such as perhaps not getting engaged in a political campaign.
Although I will say this about that, and that is that I resent deeply the idea that others would try and deny me my right to participate fully in the selection of this country's leaders.
BLITZER: Because your wife is a CIA operative.
But let me ask a final question, now: Are you going to file any civil lawsuits against Libby, Cheney, anyone else?
WILSON: We're keeping all of our options open. There's a very complicated procedure for this, even though the case itself is relatively simple. And we have not come to any decision yet.
BLITZER: Joe Wilson, thanks very much for joining us.
WILSON: Thanks, Wolf. Good to be with you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Just ahead, the battle over the high court. We'll find out who Judge Alito really is and why Democrats are getting ready for a fight.
Plus, the royals come to America. Prince Charles and Camilla making their first official joint visit to this country. Will they win America's heart? Or will the memory of Diana still linger? Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: You're back in THE SITUATION ROOM and welcome back. It is an Anderson Cooper tradition at this hour, we want to keep it going, here's the world in 360.
Bird flu across the border: Canadian health officials say three dozen wild ducks have tested positive for bird flu but they don't think it's the same strain of the virus that's killed more than 60 people in southeast Asia. Test results should give a definitive answer in about a week. The infected ducks were found in Quebec and Manitoba.
This storm's disintegrating, but the effects are lingering in Honduras and Nicaragua battered by Hurricane Beta. It dumped as much as 15 inches of rain and battered coastal communities with winds up to 105 miles per hour. There are no deaths reported but officials warn there's still a danger from landslides and flooding.
And a whirlwind royal visit begins tomorrow. Britain's Prince Charles and his wife Camilla are coming to the United States with stops planned in New York, Washington and San Francisco. They'll also pay a brief visit to New Orleans to look at recovery efforts. It's the royal couples first official overseas trip since they we're married in April.
And that's the world in 360.
Up next, he wasn't the president's first choice, but will Judge Samuel Alito's nomination stick? We'll tell you what you should know and might not know about the man who would be the next Supreme Court justice.
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BLITZER: Up next, he wasn't the president's first choice, but will Judge Samuel Alito's nomination stick?
We'll tell you what you should know and might not know about the man who would be the next Supreme Court justice.
And what are the bloggers digging up on Samuel Alito? We're tracking the situation online. At the high court showdown gets under way. Stay with us.
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BLITZER: So just who is Judge Samuel Alito, President Bush's choice for the U.S. Supreme Court?
New Jersey born and bred, he still holds court there.
Our senior correspondent Allan Chernoff is outside the federal court house in Newark. He's joining us now live--Alan.
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, it's hard to think of a Supreme Court nominee as a regular guy, but friends of Judge Alito say he's a humble sports fan, who just happens to be brilliant.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHERNOFF (voice-over): For silent Sam Alito, as he was known at Yale Law, Supreme Court justice, his dream job choice number two. No question, say friends, quiet, thoughtful Sam Alito would have preferred to have been second baseman for the Philadelphia Phillies.
A Phillies fanatic, the Supreme Court nominee lived for baseball as a boy growing up in Trenton.
ROSE ALITO, NOMINEE'S MOTHER: We had a little baseball field in the backyard and his friends came regularly. And then they'd come in and have drinks and have fun.
CHERNOFF: Now Judge Alito devotes the same passion to the law. Not only as an appeals court judge for the past 15 years, but also in his community.
Under his coaching, the mock trial team at the local high school won a national championship. He teaches a terrorism and civil liberties class at Seton Hall Law School and judges mock trials there.
PATRICK HOBBS, SETON HALL UNIV. SCHOOL OF LAW: He's very compassionate. He talks to the students about what they did well and what they didn't so well. But, he's very self deprecating. His first comment is usually, I guarantee you, you've done this better than I would have at your stage in the career.
CHERNOFF (on camera): Judge Alito is a Jersey guy through and through. So much so that he keeps his chambers here on the third floor of the U.S. Courthouse in Newark, New Jersey, even though the court on which he sits, the third circuit, is based in Philadelphia.
(voice-over): Judge Alito lives nearby here in West Caldwell, New Jersey with his wife, son and daughter.
LARRY LUSTBERG, ALITO'S NEIGHBOR: Sam Alito is terrific. He's generous of spirit. He's got a great sense of humor. He's very smart. And he's kind and open minded human being.
CHERNOFF: Most of all, friends and colleagues say, Judge Alito is a good listener, willing to give any lawyer a full and fair hearing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHERNOFF: Now the judge's friends hope that he'll get a fair confirmation hearing in the Senate--Wolf.
BLITZER: Allan Chernoff reporting for us from Newark. Allan, thank you very much.
The nomination of Samuel Alito this morning created an immediate stir online, still is.
Our Internet reporter Abbi Tatton is checking the situation online. She's joining us now live.
ABBI TATTON, INTERNET REPORTER: Wolf, it was amazing how quickly both sides took this fight online today.
Advocacy groups like Progress for America on the right supporting this nominee. Ready to go with sites like judgealito.com, supporting the nomination right there on the left.
On the other side, the Alliance for Justice, they had their SupremeCourtWatch.org. Both these sites have online petitions and other action items to either support or oppose this nomination.
Also, moving very quickly today, the Republican National Committee. With the Harriet Miers' nomination, we saw, but lots of conservative bloggers were very vocal in their opposition to that nominee.
The Republican National Committee today is trying to engage those bloggers. They organized a conference call with Chairman Ken Mehlman and some of those conservative bloggers touting this nominee, taking questions.
And Ken Mehlman telling those blogger that he imagines there will be offensive attacks on this nominee and saying to the blogosphere, we want your help on this.
Now, this is a nominee with a long paper trail unlike Harriet Miers. And you can go online, and you can read some of his opinions yourself.
SCOTUSblog, for example, this is a Web site that focuses just on the Supreme Court, rounding out many of those opinions today. Directly from the Third Circuit Web site opinions such as the 1991 case, Casey versus Planned Parenthood, and it really does--that's a case that many are saying online is going to be ground zero in the battle ahead.
And it does look like it's going to be an online battle, Wolf.
With the John Roberts nomination, we did not see too much intensity between left and right. With Harriet Miers, it was all amongst conservatives. This one, according to DailyKos, on the left, the showdown finally arrives-- Wolf.
BLITZER: All right, Abbi. Thank you very much.
CNN's Zain Verjee once again joining us from the CNN Center with some of the business headlines we're following tonight.
Zain, what do you got?
VERJEE: Wolf, a lawyer for a pharmaceutical giant, Merck, today urged jurors to clear company of liability for a heart attack suffered by an Idaho man, who took its painkiller Vioxx.
In closing arguments Merck's attorney says the company has already tested the drug, and that the regulators found that short term use did not pose a risk.
Merck pulled Vioxx off the market last year after research showed it doubled the risk of heart attacks and strokes if taken for at least 18 months. The plaintiff, one of about 17,000 to sue Merck, took Vioxx for two months. His lawyer will sum up tomorrow.
The Federal Reserve is expected to raise official interest rates once again tomorrow as it continues to dig in against inflation pressures. Central bank officials have sounded more hawkish recently and observers consider another quarter point increase in the benchmark federal funds rate to be likely.
Action by the Fed would bring the number of rate increases so far to an even dozen.
All three major stock indexes gained ground today fueled in part by a drop in oil prices. The Dow Jones industrials closed above 10,440, that's up more than 37 points.
The Nasdaq climbed more than 30 points to close above 2,120 and the S&P also ended the day up--Wolf.
BLITZER: Zain, doing an excellent business report for us. Zain, thank you very much.
Up next, abortion and the Supreme Court nomination. How big an issue will it actually be?
Jack Cafferty has been sorting through your e-mail. He's going to join us with the "Cafferty File." That's right after this.
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BLITZER: Her's a look at some of the hot shots coming in from our friends over at the Associated Press, pictures likely to be in your hometown newspapers tomorrow.
In Zanzibar, election beatings. Police attacked two men suspected of being supporters of the political opposition. They were celebrating an early lead at the polls.
In Pennsylvania, a transit strike brings buses, subways, trolleys to a halt. More than half a million people had to find other ways to work today. In Washington, a panda cub checkup. Tai Shan had his tenth physical exam over at the National Zoo. He now weighs a healthy 15.5 pounds.
And in Manhattan Beach, California, check this out. Surfing the Titanic. It's all part of the scare and tear contest. Competitors were judged on costumes and surfing.
Those are some of today's hot shots, pictures often worth a thousand words.
Let's find out what's coming up right at the top of the hour. Paula Zahn is in New York. She's standing by. Paula, what have you got?
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: You know, Wolf, what you missed, you should just have some cameras trained outside the Time Warner Center tonight. There were some pretty wacky Halloween costumes, and at the top of the hour, I'm going to actually show you the lengths to which one town is going tonight to try to keep trick-or-treaters safe. The town told all the convicted and registered sex offenders that they had to be home by 7:00, that they had to stay away from children, and there are some people out there that think that is going too far. We'll look at that debate tonight, and also, of course, have the very latest on the president's nomination of Judge Alito to the Supreme Court. And that ensuing debate as well, which I know you have covered an awful lot tonight.
BLITZER: Well, we're going to be covering it over all of these weeks and months.
Paula, you have a very important show coming up Wednesday night. Tell our viewers briefly what you have in store.
ZAHN: Well, we're going to take a look at the increase in the number of eating disorders we see in this country. Ten million Americans, that includes some 1 million men. They're suffering from bulimia or anorexia, and the really disturbing thing, as a parent, Wolf, is the number of children now that are having some real serious eating issues. We interview a young girl, who at the age of 5 stopped eating anything, but -- believe it or not -- paper, 15 pages of paper a day. So, we are profiling a number of people, and tonight, at 8:00, we'll be looking at Jane Fonda's 30-year battle with bulimia and anorexia.
BLITZER: A very important show Wednesday night. We'll see you at the top of the hour, Paula. Thank you very much.
ZAHN: Thanks, Wolf.
BLITZER: Still ahead, abortion and the U.S. Supreme Court. Is the stage set for a showdown? "The Cafferty File," your e-mail. Jack standing by right when we come back.
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BLITZER: Jack Cafferty has got your e-mail, and he's going through it. He's joining us from New York -- Jack.
CAFFERTY: Thanks, Wolf.
The great unanswered question concerning the newest nominee to the Supreme Court, Judge Samuel Alito, is whether or not he would vote to overturn Roe v. Wade. We'll probably never know the answer to that. But what he could do if he's confirmed is shift the court to the right, on how far the government can go in restricting a woman's access to abortion.
So the question this hour is how big an issue will abortion be when it comes to Judge Alito's confirmation?
Thomas writes: "A woman's right to choose abortion should play a major role in the confirmation. During the election, Bush soft- pedaled the entire issue of abortion, so he could win the moderate vote and the election. The majority of Americans support choice. This candidate should not be confirmed."
Janna in Mesa, Arizona: "Isn't that what Bush is going for, mainly? To attempt to stack the court in the interests of the conservative religious right? Abortion will be make-or-break for Alito."
Aaron in Watertown, Wisconsin: "Abortion is likely all we'll hear about, to the exclusion of all other issues. It seemed to be the be- all-and-end-all to Roberts and Miers nominations, because, you know, the consciousness of a microscopic blob of DNA is the only issue of any importance facing our nation."
Ms. Thompson writes: "No person, judge, senator, congressman, president or anyone in government should be telling the women of America how to make choices on issues such as birth control, abortion, or any personal choice a woman may make about her private life."
And finally, Harriet in Tempe, Arizona: "As usual, I want a bunch of men, most of whom are in the Viagra age group, deciding what to do with my body."
Wolf.
BLITZER: Tempe, Arizona. We always get good e-mail from there.
Jack, we'll see you tomorrow, every day this week. We're working late, we're in THE SITUATION ROOM weekdays, 3:00 to 6:00 p.m. Eastern, and this week, 7:00 p.m. as well.
I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. Let's go to Paula Zahn. She's in New York -- Paula.
ZAHN: You know, one of these days, Wolf, I'll give you a day off.
BLITZER: One of these days.
ZAHN: Good to see you. Thanks so much, Wolf. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
