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American Morning
French Riots; Interview With Mike Wallace; Delta Strike Update
Aired November 29, 2005 - 06:29 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANNOUNCER: You're watching AMERICAN MORNING with Soledad O'Brien and Miles O'Brien.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back, everybody. What a pretty shot there.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: It is pretty. It's a very mild day.
S. O'BRIEN: It's a nice day. It's going to be a nice day here at least. Whether...
M. O'BRIEN: But the rest of the country...
S. O'BRIEN: Oh, it's the top story this morning.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: It stinks. It really stinks.
M. O'BRIEN: Man. Yes.
S. O'BRIEN: It's really, really bad.
COSTELLO: Let's talk about this congressman from California, because it's just unbelievable. He was taking bribes, but...
M. O'BRIEN: What were you thinking, Duke?
COSTELLO: He was buying things like a Rolls Royce.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes, that's always the tip off, the Rolls in your driveway when you're a congressman. Come on!
COSTELLO: Yes, come on.
M. O'BRIEN: He makes 150,000, and then you've got the Rolls.
S. O'BRIEN: Come on! Yes.
COSTELLO: It's just absolutely amazing.
S. O'BRIEN: Good financing on that.
COSTELLO: Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: Right.
COSTELLO: Two million dollars in bribes. Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham pleaded guilty to taking cash and gifts from military contractors and for evading more than $1 million in taxes. Cunningham was in tears as he apologized.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. RANDY "DUKE" CUNNINGHAM (R), CALIFORNIA: I was not strong enough to face the truth, so I misled my family, friends, staff, colleagues, the public and even myself. For all of this I am deeply sorry. The truth is I broke the law, concealed my conduct and disgraced my office. I know that I will forfeit my freedom, my reputation, my worldly possessions, most importantly the trust of my friends and family.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: And his reputation. He was a decorated Vietnam vet. The movie "Top Gun" based on him. Now, he faces 10 years in prison, a $350,000 fine. California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger must now call for a special election to replace him.
A massive manhunt and a high-speed chase. New York police say a suspect wanted for shooting a police officer was so eager to avoid being captured he killed another officer. The 27-year-old is now in custody. Authorities say he shot Officer Dillon Stewart during a car chase. The bullet missed the officer's protective vest by less than a quarter of an inch. The officer staying in the chase until it was over. So, with a bullet in his heart, he's still chasing this guy, and he later died.
It's being called in-your-face security operation. For example, a group of officers might surround a downtown bank and check IDs. Miami police hope random operations will be a turnoff to some would-be terrorists. The point is to keep criminals guessing. Police Chief John Timoney will be our guest later in the show.
Here's a real predicament. This is along the Washington Beltway entrance ramp. Officials say the driver was trying to change lanes when she hit a guardrail and plunged over the side. Lucky for the driver, the trees caught the car. Still, the driver had to remain in the car until rescue workers could stabilize it. At any minute it could fall out of that tree. The driver suffered only minor injuries. But, boy, did she have one heck of a story to tell her friends.
M. O'BRIEN: How did they finally get her out? Do you know? I think very carefully obviously.
COSTELLO: Very carefully. They used special equipment.
S. O'BRIEN: Wow!
COSTELLO: The fire department has all kinds of stuff.
S. O'BRIEN: That will certainly teach you about slowing down when you're making the turn on that Beltway. Thank goodness!
Let's take you back to France. You'll remember those riots in France that took place earlier this month. Well, our chief international correspondent, Christiane Amanpour, talked about those riots -- excuse me -- and the French response to those riots in an exclusive interview with the country's prime minister. Christiane is in our London bureau this morning.
Christiane, good morning to you. What did the prime minister say about how these riots were handled?
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Soledad, what's important was that he actually spoke to us and to the foreign press. You know, it took 10 days of riots before even the president of France addressed the issue. And the French are being quite defensive about it. But now, they know they need to talk about it.
So, he admitted that there had been what he called serious and severe social unrest. They refused to call them riots. And he admitted that the root causes of the unrest were discrimination and alienation felt by France's considerable number of blacks and North Africans who had come from their former colonies in Africa and in North African countries.
Listen to what he said about that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DOMINQUE DE VILLEPIN, FRENCH PRIME MINISTER: We should recognize that we have not met enough during all of these years and decades. And we need to be conscious of this situation. We have to say that and it is important also to understand the real nature of this movement. There is no ethnic or religious basis of this movement as we can see in some of the parts of the world.
But it is true that the feeling of discrimination, the feeling of maybe not having the same equal chance. But what is interesting is that most of these young people, they want to be 100 percent French. They want to have equal chances. So, it is really our goal now to answer their demand.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AMANPOUR: So, their demands are for equal opportunities in jobs, obviously better housing, better education. Most of these riots took place in what we call the outer city ghettos, which are the suburbs that have been built for these people who came in after the Second World War when their parents and grandparents were invited in by France to help with the economy.
S. O'BRIEN: Did you talk at all about France's position on the war? Obviously at one point France was leading the opposition to the war. Has that changed dramatically?
AMANPOUR: Not the opposition to the war, but the notion of having to go forward together. I didn't get a sense of any kind of secret pleasure at the chaos that's going on in Iraq. I asked him specifically whether he felt vindicated. He said, no, but we have to make this turn out right.
This is what he said:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VILLEPIN: We knew since the beginning that it was very easy to go to war. But it's very difficult to get out of Iraq, because of the fragility of the country, because of the sensitivity of the situation in this region. So, now we have to face the situation as it is. And it is the responsibility of all of the international community to help the process and to make sure that we go forward all together.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AMANPOUR: They say go forward all together. What they're very concerned about is civil war breaking out in Iraq and the spread of terrorism using now Iraq as the base.
S. O'BRIEN: Christiane Amanpour with a pretty remarkable interview. Christiane, thanks for sharing that with us. We appreciate it -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: So, where's the snow? Where is it headed? Jacqui Jeras wit that.
(WEATHER REPORT)
S. O'BRIEN: Coming up this morning, a brutal assessment from an executive at Delta Airlines. Hear what he has to say about the possible pilot strike and what that strike could mean for passengers.
M. O'BRIEN: What about my frequent flier miles? I wonder if he talks about that.
S. O'BRIEN: That too.
M. O'BRIEN: Maybe we'll get into that. We'll talk to legendary newsman Mike Wallace. He's out with a new book. It's called "Between You and Me." We'll ask him how he got his start in the biz. That's next on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
M. O'BRIEN: What an amazing career Mike Wallace has had, the "60 Minutes" veteran. Actually he was there on day one when that clock started ticking. He's interviewed just about anyone you can imagine over the past 30-40 years.
I talked to him about his new book, "Between You and Me," which recounts many of those stories, the stories behind those interviews. He began by talking about how he got in the business.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MIKE WALLACE, AUTHOR, "BETWEEN YOU AND ME": I wanted to be a radio announcer. That's was my dream. I went to the University of Michigan, got out in '35 -- no, I got out in '39. And was turned down for a job in Muskegon, Michigan, and then finally was hired for 20 bucks a week by WOOD in Grand Rapids, and I was off to the races.
M. O'BRIEN: You create in your interviews a sense of intimacy, and you do that by learning, it seems, just about you can about the person you're talking to.
WALLACE: Exactly right.
M. O'BRIEN: Is that the secret to doing an interview as far you see it?
WALLACE: For me it is. Look, if I want to interview you -- which is not a bad idea -- what I try to do when I'm going to do a one-on-one with somebody who is interesting is read everything, see everything that they've been involved with. As a result of which when you sit down with the interviewee, the object of your scrutiny, they suddenly realize, hey, this guy is paying some attention.
M. O'BRIEN: So, you were breaking ground by being candid.
WALLACE: That's exactly right.
M. O'BRIEN: And that in many cases created a lot of criticism for you, for the program, and particularly when you went national. And there were questions and statements made that broke some ground and ruffled some feathers.
WALLACE: Oh, yes. But, you know, that comes with the territory. The inquisitor, the nasty, nosy, et cetera, et cetera. The fact of the matter is that that's what reporting really is all about. I was not a reporter back then. I was an announcer.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
M. O'BRIEN: Eighty-seven years young, still going strong. We're going to share with you a little more of that interview in just a bit, including we'll tell you what his most gut-wrenching interview was.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: That will be interesting to hear.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes. It really is. And we have a pretty good excerpt of it. It's very interesting.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes, you could look at him forever.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
S. O'BRIEN: I mean, what insight into business.
M. O'BRIEN: He's great.
S. O'BRIEN: That was great. Good job.
M. O'BRIEN: Thanks. S. O'BRIEN: Andy is "Minding Your Business." What's coming up?
SERWER: We're going to be talking about Delta Airlines. Just how prepared is the company for a strike by its pilots if that were to happen? You're going to be surprised to find out. Stay tuned to AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
S. O'BRIEN: Tuesday is gone with the wind. Well, not yet. Welcome to Tuesday morning, everybody.
SERWER: Lynyrd Skynyrd.
M. O'BRIEN: Lynyrd Skynyrd. He is our music man.
S. O'BRIEN: But, Jerry, good find.
SERWER: Yes.
S. O'BRIEN: Go, Jerry!
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
S. O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody. In fact, it is Tuesday morning. And we have special hours, new hours of AMERICAN MORNING.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
S. O'BRIEN: We start at 6:00 a.m. Eastern Time for those of you who have just flipped on your TV and said, hey, what are they doing on already?
M. O'BRIEN: We're glad to be on with you.
SERWER: I'm here.
M. O'BRIEN: And we hope you make it a habit.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes, absolutely. We're following the weather, because that's really our top story this morning. Here in New York it's not so bad, but across the country it looks like it's going to get very bad. It's one of our top stories.
Carol has a look at some of the others this morning as well.
Good morning.
COSTELLO: Good morning. Good morning to all of you.
President Bush is heading to the border. The president plans to tour the border near El Paso today. On Monday, he was in Arizona promoting his plan to help illegal immigrants. He says America should not have to choose between a welcoming society and a lawful society.
California Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham survived anti- aircraft fire over Vietnam, but he did not survive a federal prosecutor. The former Vietnam pilot resigned Monday after pleading guilty to taking almost $2.5 million bribes. The Republican congressman who served eight terms in the U.S. House now faces up to 10 years in prison.
There's a new sheriff in town. Actually it's a new police superintendent for the city of New Orleans. Warren Riley was sworn in on Monday. Coming up at 9:30 Eastern, Miles will ask the new superintendent about the many challenges facing him and his city.
In sports, oh, those galloping Colts. Peyton Manning threw for 245 yards, and Edgerrin James ran for 124 as the Colts racked up win number 11 last night. They thumped the Pittsburgh Steelers 26-7. And Ben Roethlisberger was back, too. He has that sore knee, though. Indianapolis is the first team -- the first team since the Denver Broncos to start the season at 11-0. Denver did it in 1998. A perfect season wasn't seen since 1972 and the Miami Dolphins.
Washington is talking this morning about a little symbolism. It seems a chunk of marble fell from the authority figure on the facade of the Supreme Court building. As you might imagine, bloggers are having a field day with this. Fortunately, no one was hurt. The funny thing, Jacqui, is a group of junior high school students were there...
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes.
COSTELLO: ... and they started picking up some of the pieces as souvenirs. The Park Police rushed and said, don't you pick that up. They wouldn't let them take it.
JERAS: They were trying to put it back together?
COSTELLO: Yes, because anything that falls is historical.
JERAS: Right. Wow!
(WEATHER REPORT)
COSTELLO: It has been one wacky November, hasn't it? And I guess it's just going to continue, Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes, unfortunately. All right, Carol, thanks, and Jacqui too.
Here's a question for you in business news. Could Delta Airlines survive a strike by the pilots?
M. O'BRIEN: You know, I can fly. So, you know, would they let me try? I mean...
SERWER: They may be signing you up. I don't know if anyone would fly...
M. O'BRIEN: ... in a pitch?
S. O'BRIEN: They may be desperate, but not that desperate.
M. O'BRIEN: That would be quite an upgrade.
SERWER: Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: Wouldn't it?
SERWER: I'm not sure.
M. O'BRIEN: Take the front left seat, please. Thank you.
SERWER: An upgrade for you.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
S. O'BRIEN: An upgrade for you. Not necessarily for the Delta passengers. But thanks for volunteering. We'll keep you that in mind.
Could they survive a strike? I mean, we hear from an executive pretty bluntly.
SERWER: Exactly, Soledad. You probably recall that Delta Airlines and its pilots union are at loggerheads. At issue: the contract. The company wants to tear the contract up. The union not ready to give back much at all.
And, of course, they were looking possibly to strike before Thanksgiving. The judge in this case, Judge Prudence Carter Bailey (ph) said, forget it. We're going to have a hearing after Thanksgiving. That hearing, of course, was yesterday.
And at the hearing, the chief financial officer of the company, Edward Bastian, said that if there was a strike, the company was not prepared. There is no contingency plan, which is some startling news perhaps.
Also, from the judge yesterday, she said that she had no jurisdiction over the pilots if they did choose to strike. She couldn't enjoin them and force them back to work.
Another zinger from the judge, she also said the company's plan to buy back billions of dollars of stock over the past couple of years was money spent the wrong way. And she said that it was buying something that wasn't worth anything, merely to prop the stock price up. Kind of slapping it to the executives there.
The company has lost $2.6 billion in the first nine months of the year. And we're really getting close to the brink here.
I was flying the Delta shuttle over the holidays, and it was absolutely empty, which was very surprising to me that people weren't flying.
M. O'BRIEN: Well, that's because I was flying as a result.
SERWER: People were scared away, I guess.
M. O'BRIEN: It is -- you can't just replace pilots. That's the problem.
SERWER: That's right. You can replace others but not them.
S. O'BRIEN: I'd be interested to know, the pilots are being asked to take what kind of a pay cut? I mean, what do they make? And how much are they being asked to chop? And then I want to know the guy who testified, the chief financial officer, what did he make last year?
SERWER: Yes.
S. O'BRIEN: I'm a chief executive. What did he make last year? Those would be interesting numbers just to kind of do the math on.
SERWER: Well, there are many hundreds of thousands of dollars. But, you know, when you're talking about someone who used to make 250 and telling him to take a pay cut to, say, 120, I mean, that's a huge pay cut. It's a lot of money. And, of course, it's a job that requires incredible responsibility. I mean, to be flying people around like that. So, I think they should get paid...
S. O'BRIEN: Well, it's not out of the realm of what other pilots make, right?
SERWER: Right.
S. O'BRIEN: I mean, it's not like the Delta pilots are being paid here. Everybody makes...
SERWER: Well, they make a little bit more.
S. O'BRIEN: Really, they do?
M. O'BRIEN: They're at the top pay scale.
S. O'BRIEN: Find out what the chief financial officer made...
SERWER: Yes, I'm sure he makes more.
S. O'BRIEN: ... and the chief executive officer made. That's what I want to know.
SERWER: It's a lot of money.
S. O'BRIEN: It's coming up...
(CROSSTALK)
M. O'BRIEN: But the chief financial officer does not bring you home on that dark, foggy night.
S. O'BRIEN: No, he's not.
SERWER: Like you might be.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes, like I might be.
SERWER: And that's what scares us so, Miles.
S. O'BRIEN: Exactly right.
M. O'BRIEN: I just realized I volunteered to be a scab. Bad idea.
SERWER: That's also not good.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes. Coming up on the program, a status check in New Orleans three months after Katrina. School, a public school is back in session finally. Businesses are returning slowly. But not all of the developments have been positive, of course. We'll go live to New Orleans for a status check three months after Katrina later on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
M. O'BRIEN: This Sunday night at 8:00 Eastern, our "THEN & NOW" special with Larry King will look at some of the newsmakers of CNN's first 25 years and see what they're doing now.
Here's a sample:
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You know when you're growing up you have lots of things you want to do. I always assumed I would go into space.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ignition and liftoff!
M. O'BRIEN (voice over): On September 12, 1992, at the age of 35, Dr. Mae Jemison boldly went where no African-American woman had gone before.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was really after we got into orbit that I had a sensation that I belonged anywhere in this universe.
M. O'BRIEN: Jemison makes it her life mission to explore the universe in every way she can. This high achiever is also a chemical engineer, Peace Corps veteran, physician, author and teacher.
In 1994, Jemison started an international science camp for teens called The Earth We Share.
These days, Jemison is the founder and president of the BioSentient Corporation, where she is working on a device that provides mobile monitoring of people's nervous systems.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We think that there are real applications in the future for trying to identify certain diseases. It can also people monitor how effective drugs are. M. O'BRIEN: In addition to her work in the sciences, Jemison says she may one day explore the field of politics.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: I feel incredibly old after that. Howie Mandel is 50!
S. O'BRIEN: And he's bald. When did that happen?
M. O'BRIEN: When did that happen?
S. O'BRIEN: Well, I don't know.
M. O'BRIEN: Geez, you know, where has Howie been?
COSTELLO: Poor Howie.
S. O'BRIEN: He looks good.
M. O'BRIEN: Bald and 50 and washed up? Is that it?
S. O'BRIEN: No.
COSTELLO: OK, let's go on our AM agenda before poor Howie is, you know...
M. O'BRIEN: I'm sorry.
COSTELLO: Yes. Ripped on anymore.
We're going to talk more about Representative Cunningham, this Republican congressman, because he was taking $2 million in bribes and buying things like Rolls Royces, a big graduation party for his daughter. He built a new vacation home.
S. O'BRIEN: He had been denying it actually for quite a while. And then finally this tearful admission where he said he had had sort of highs and lows in his career and then shameful moments like this one with the admission as well.
COSTELLO: You know, he just sold out his reputation.
M. O'BRIEN: I'm still going -- I'm just scratching my head over the list.
S. O'BRIEN: Here is part of his list. He had this yacht. We actually have pictures of the yacht. I saw them earlier.
M. O'BRIEN: The Dukester (ph)?
S. O'BRIEN: The Dukester (ph), which is where he lived on his yacht. Apparently somebody else paid for his graduation party for his daughter. He bought a Rolls Royce, antique furniture, jewelry, travel, hotel expenses were paid for, and 500,000... COSTELLO: Well, it's not like he was taking the money for an operation for a loved one.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: No, that would be sort of...
S. O'BRIEN: No, that wasn't on the list. No.
M. O'BRIEN: That would probably be mitigating, I think, or something like that.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: But...
S. O'BRIEN: No, apparently...
M. O'BRIEN: Well, here is what's going to be interesting. This is going to be yet another piece that the Democrats will try -- a dot that the Democrats are going to string together for the midterm elections the whole notion that the GOP has been in power now 10 years, and there's a culture of corruption. It will be interesting to see how this plays in the next election.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes, it certainly will.
M. O'BRIEN: Speaking of Washington, Mary Landrieu yesterday.
S. O'BRIEN: Right.
M. O'BRIEN: We spoke with her. And then she was with the Dutch ambassador touring. Afterwards she vowed -- and this is going to upset a lot of people in Washington. She vowed to keep the Senate in session through the holidays. Through the holidays. They don't like to miss the -- work the holidays like we do. And...
S. O'BRIEN: Mr. I was up on Thanksgiving? Yes, go on.
M. O'BRIEN: Oh, yes, I'm sorry.
S. O'BRIEN: I'm sorry for interrupting.
M. O'BRIEN: That's OK. No one feels sorry for us. So, anyway, in any case, until Congress approves some money for some sort of flood mitigation plan for New Orleans. Well, I mean...
S. O'BRIEN: Well, good for her.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes, good for her. This has got -- something has to be done, because nothing will happen in New Orleans until this occurs. Until...
COSTELLO: That's right. Until those levees are fixed, and the city will...
(CROSSTALK)
M. O'BRIEN: Or there is a statement that they will be fixed in a certain period of time.
S. O'BRIEN: Or a plan.
M. O'BRIEN: A plan. Because people own houses like our executive producer, Kim Bonnie (ph). Should she rebuild? She has to wait until Washington gives, you know, a stamp of approval that we're going to do this. So, you know, God bless her. Good luck with that one.
S. O'BRIEN: In Miami today, Miami police are announcing Miami Shield. Have you heard about this? It's this new anti-terror move. It's actually kind of interesting. They are describing it both as in your face and random, meaning that they're going to be a show of force. They will sort of take over an area, whether it's for 15 minutes or for an hour, and kind of pick random soft targets, meaning malls and businesses.
COSTELLO: Soft targets.
M. O'BRIEN: (INAUDIBLE) like this.
COSTELLO: You mean, somebody can run up to me and say I demand to see your ID.
M. O'BRIEN: Exactly.
COSTELLO: And if I don't have my driver's license on me, I could be, like, taken off to...
M. O'BRIEN: You're busted. Guantanamo for you.
S. O'BRIEN: Well, let's not...
COSTELLO: I mean, seriously. Seriously.
S. O'BRIEN: I don't think that's what they're -- first of all, they're announcing it later today. And we're going to be talking to the police chief later. I'll be sure to run your concerns by him.
M. O'BRIEN: He just cancelled.
S. O'BRIEN: Maybe there are some civil liberties concerned.
COSTELLO: What soft targets? Anybody who looks...
S. O'BRIEN: A shopping mall, a business. You know, I think that that's actually a lot of the debate is over exactly how it's going to work. And isn't that what the police should be doing anyway right now? Not necessarily checking IDs, but basically going through and, you know, showing a show of force on these random targets.
COSTELLO: I look forward to that interview.
M. O'BRIEN: We will all be watching.
(CROSSTALK)
S. O'BRIEN: That's ahead.
Oh, as we approach the top of the hour, it's time to get a look at the forecast for the day. Hey, Jacqui, good morning again.
M. O'BRIEN: Hey, Jacqui, can we see your ID, by the way, just while you're there, if you don't mind?
JERAS: I do have it in my wallet.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes, OK. OK.
JERAS: And I have my insurance card also in my glove box.
M. O'BRIEN: Tell it to the judge.
(WEATHER REPORT)
JERAS: The next hour of AMERICAN MORNING is right now.
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