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American Morning

Attorney General Defends Wiretapping; Plans Laid for Troop Reduction; Former Convict Becomes Honor Student, Makes Fresh Start; Box Office Results for "King Kong" Smaller Than Expected

Aired December 19, 2005 - 09:30   ET

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

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CO-HOST: The composite index opens at 2,252, dropping more than eight points.
And of course, a reminder: we're waiting to hear from the president. Reporters are sure to ask him questions about eavesdropping on Americans. He's going have a news conference at 10:30 a.m. Eastern Time. We're going to carry it for you here live.

Let's get right to Elaine Quijano. She's live at the White House for us.

Hey, Elaine. Good morning to you. What are we going to hear from the president this morning?

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning to you, Soledad.

President Bush likely to face some tough questions, as you note, about that now disclosed NSA program regarding domestic spying. Now, the Bush administration understands full well the ramifications of the disclosure of that program.

That is why, just a short time ago, even though the administration believes that national security has been hurt by this disclosure, we heard, in fact, from the attorney general, Alberto Gonzales, along with the deputy director of national intelligence, General Michael Hayden.

They both gave a briefing to reporters off camera just a short time ago, both of them arguing that the president was within his rights to authorize this program. Both of them also saying that the information gleaned from the program has made the U.S. safer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALBERTO GONZALES, ATTORNEY GENERAL: We've engaged in signal intelligence beginning with the Civil War and through all of the conflicts since then. This is a very important aspect of engaging in the war. We do believe that that would constitute the authority by the congress to engage in this kind of surveillance.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUIJANO: So why not go through the FISA court, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court, through which some legal experts say the Bush administration should have gone initially?

The administration's argument is that the FISA court is not necessarily as fast enough or as agile enough to deal with the kinds of intelligence issues that come their way now. They say the FISA court primarily deals with the long-term surveillance law enforcement and intelligence surveillance of, say, an individual over an extended period of time. They argued that's simply not what has come across now and that is why they say the NSA program has been so vital -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Well, there are certainly to be many more questions about that today as the president speaks at 10:30 a.m. Eastern Time. Elaine Quijano reporting for us this morning from the White House. Elaine, thanks.

SANCHEZ: Let's talk about troop reduction now. A very small part of the president's speech last night. He did say decisions are going to be made based on progress and some of the advice from his military commanders.

Barbara Starr is joining us now live from the Pentagon to talk about potential troop reductions.

Barbara, good morning to you.

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

Indeed the president did not make any announcements last night. It's going to be several days, we are told, before any announcements are forthcoming, but that is not to say that there aren't options on the table that he is looking at.

Sources are saying that the key, the leading option right now is that first the 20,000 troops that are there in Iraq for election security will return home by the end of January, possibly.

Then there will be a follow-up decision. Seven to 10,000 more troops in Iraq simply may not be replaced. That will allow overall troop levels to fall.

How will they accomplish that? Well, one brigade will stay back in the United States. One brigade will stay in Kuwait. But are those real troop reductions? The brigade that's staying home in the U.S. still may have some small numbers of troops go to Iraq as trainers.

As for that brigade that will stay in Kuwait to be a rapid response force if there's a crisis inside Iraq. Well, that brigade, the Kuwaitis are already, we are told, nervous about that. They want assurances that that -- those troops in Kuwait will be only for Iraq, that the administration isn't planning to do something else with them.

So all of this still unfolding over the next days and weeks, Rick.

SANCHEZ: What is holding up any plan right now to try and actually exercise this plan, to actually put it in place, Barbara?

STARR: Well, you know, General Casey said last week he is still trying to make an assessment about the insurgency. No one is predicting this election, good news as it was, will mean an end to the insurgency.

The key unknown are the Baathist insurgent groups, the Sunni Saddam rejectionists, as they're called. They were not engaging in attacks on election day. They were ponying up to the political process, if you will, but the overall feeling is that that may not last, that the violence will rise again. They want to see what exactly the insurgency is going to do now, Rick.

SANCHEZ: Well, a lot of families here have their fingers crossed, I'm sure. We thank you, Barbara, for bring us that story from the Pentagon.

Let's go over to Carol Costello now, find out what's going on with some of the other news items of the day. Carol, what do you have?

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Well, good morning to all of you.

They were once considered high-value prisoners. But the U.S. military is now confirming Dr. Germ and Mrs. Anthrax have been released, along with several other former officials under Saddam Hussein.

The military says they've been let go as part of an ongoing review process, that the officials are no longer under investigation for any crime.

We're hearing another U.S. Marine has been killed in combat in Iraq. The U.S. military says it happened in Ramadi. That's west of Baghdad. The incident was apparently caused by small arms fire.

It's not a single person of the year, but rather persons, people, "TIME" magazine, honoring U2's Bono and Bill and Melinda Gates. They're being recognized for their good deeds, such as the fight against malaria, AIDS and global poverty. According to "TIME," the Gateses spent the year giving away more money faster than anyone ever has. Look out for the magazine on newsstands this week.

Thousands of people living and visiting New York could have one nasty commute tomorrow unless there's a breakthrough. The city's mass transit system is planning a large-scale strike. In fact, we just got these pictures in to us this morning.

You remember, we were waiting for it to happen on Friday, but some private bus lines were the only ones that went on strike. The face-off continued through the weekend. Negotiations expected to start up again today, but their negotiations did not go that well this week and of course, we'll keep you posted.

Airport delays to tell you about in the Bay Area. Bonnie has that for you. (WEATHER REPORT)

O'BRIEN: All right, Bonnie. Thank you.

A story now about a pretty amazing determination for a young man with a checkered past. In Atlanta, Charles Heaton found out the hard way that good grades and a degree from a prestigious university just were not enough after he did time in prison.

Our David Mattingly tells us what it took for him to get a second chance.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Graduating from college was the happiest day in Charles Roscoe Heaton's life, but the smiles wouldn't last, because Heaton was an honor student trying to escape a less than honorable past.

CHARLES HEATON, HONOR GRADUATE OF EMORY UNIVERSITY: I said, you know, hey, people are going forget everything you've ever done in the past. That's erased. It's done. It wasn't that way.

MATTINGLY: Before Heaton was an overachieving undergraduate, he was an out of luck teenage inmate, serving almost three years in a Georgia state prison, once attempting suicide. So, in spite of his excellent grades from college, employers wouldn't touch him.

He ended up panhandling under a bridge in Atlanta, living out of his car and growing more depressed and angry with each motorist who passed him by.

(on camera) Did you feel like your life was over?

HEATON: Yes, I felt I was going to be like my father and my mother, and the cycle was just going to start and the door was going to start revolving.

MATTINGLY (voice-over): Both of Heaton's parents served time in prison, and he remembers a childhood filled with shame.

HEATON: It was like a hole, and I was always trying to feed this hole with whatever good grades or doing good on the football team or, you know, being this star student or star debater or things like that.

MATTINGLY: But he was also frequently getting into trouble, drugs, alcohol, fistfights as he was unable to shake feelings of worthlessness. It wasn't until age 17 and behind bars, convicted on charges of aggravate assault, that Heaton saw clearly the future he had been determined to avoid. He realized he was serving time in prison the same time as his father.

HEATON: I made a promise to myself. I promised by the time I got back to my cell that I would never come back to prison. I would not be like him and keep repeatedly coming back to prison.

MATTINGLY (on camera): And it's a promise that he's managed to keep.

As employers continued to balk at the idea of hiring an ex-con, even one with an impeccable resume, Heaton decided to launch a letter writing campaign, pleading his case to judges, politicians, the media and companies. And unlike those days he spent panhandling, this time people paid attention.

(voice-over) It was a desperate gamble that paid off with a front-page Sunday headline in the "Atlanta Journal-Constitution" and job offers.

Now, employed as an office manager, he vows to remember those pivotal low points in his life: the humility behind bars and the frustration he felt on the street.

(on camera) Did you ever feel like acting on that anger?

HEATON: No, sir. I never really did. I just -- I said one day if I ever make it I'm not going to be like these people.

MATTINGLY (voice-over): Heaton now talks of going to law school, with hopes of one day practicing law and helping people like himself. Anyone, he says, who is in need of a chance to prove themselves.

David Mattingly, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: He says at times he would dress up in a pin-striped navy blue suit, carry around a black suitcase and wear a sign that said "Emory University grad can't get work. Need a job, food or money. Need help. Thanks."

SANCHEZ: Wow.

O'BRIEN: That's how bad it got for him.

SANCHEZ: He was able to turn it around, though.

O'BRIEN: Yes. So far so good.

SANCHEZ: That's a good story.

O'BRIEN: Ahead this morning, six more shopping days until Christmas. Did retailers get their holiday wish this year? Andy is "Minding Your Business," just ahead.

SANCHEZ: And then "King Kong" was supposed to be a monster at the box office. How did it do? Was it monstrous or just a little bit? Well, "AM Pop" is straight ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody. Holiday shopping fever pitch right now. So how are retailers feeling about the holiday season? Andy Serwer is "Minding Your Business." SANCHEZ: Mind away, Andy.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Well, in a word, it's OK. Well, tepid, doing all right.

O'BRIEN: Is it too early to really be...

SERWER: No, they know by now.

O'BRIEN: Really?

SERWER: It's -- well, you know, every year they say oh, sales are not so good, but you know, every year we muddle through to the next year, so it doesn't seem to destroy the economy, that Christmas and holiday shopping is not so stellar.

Let's go down to the big board and see how stocks are faring, though, at this hour. Up 15 points on the Dow Jones Industrials as we head towards 11,000 on the Dow before the year end. That's wishful thinking.

Pharmaceutical stocks driving the market higher. Pfizer, in particular, up 10 percent this morning. That's a huge gain: $2 1/2 to over $25. A big court case victory for Lipitor, a patent case there. And other drug stocks are doing well.

Let's get into the holiday shopping and sort of break it down for you. Only six days left until the big day, of course. Here's how things are breaking out.

Electronics sales are brisk. The malls are doing sort of so-so, blah. Luxury goods continue to do well. This is a story we've been talking about for years. The high end always is doing well. Online shopping is doing extremely well, also. This is another big trend. Gift cards continue to grow.

Saturday is the final day, of course, for shopping before Christmas, and that could be a very, very big and crazy day. Of course, I'm going to be doing most of my shopping that day, sad to say. No, because I...

O'BRIEN: I'm not sure -- I know I'm not the business guy.

SERWER: Yes. Or the business gal.

O'BRIEN: Or the business gal, for that matter.

But I mean, don't you feel like a lot gets done between now and the end of the year that could change those numbers?

SERWER: I think they extrapolate. They do do that a little bit.

And another note here want to get into a little bit, is the culture wars continue with this, you know, Christmas and holiday stuff. Some protestors out -- it is out of control -- last Saturday in Sacramento, California. This is a gentleman named Dick Oderstock (ph), who is, I guess you'd say, a Christian activist of an organization called the Church of the Divide. And you can see he's dressed up with a Santa Claus, with a Bible, protesting...

O'BRIEN: The Church of the Divine?

SERWER: The Church of the Divide. The Divide. The Divide.

SANCHEZ: As opposed to Divine. I know. Isn't that...

SERWER: We looked it up and it exists. And he's protesting the fact that Wal-Mart seems to have dropped the word "Christmas." But Wal-Mart still does use the word "Christmas." They just use the word "Christmas" and the phrase "Happy Holidays," which is fine.

O'BRIEN: There are a number of people who think if you say "Happy Holidays" that you are attacking Christmas.

SERWER: Right.

O'BRIEN: You're trying to aggressively remove Christ out of Christmas which, I don't know...

SANCHEZ: What if you're talking about the whole thing like Thanksgiving, for example?

SERWER: And New Year's.

O'BRIEN: And happy Hanukkah.

SERWER: And you're including Hanukkah, and you're including everything.

Yes. I don't see the problem.

SANCHEZ: But a Christmas tree should be called a Christmas tree.

O'BRIEN: Yes. That's not a holiday tree.

SANCHEZ: Let's just be on the record with that one.

O'BRIEN: That's just weird.

SANCHEZ: OK.

SERWER: I think that's right.

O'BRIEN: A holiday tree? That's crazy.

SANCHEZ: Yes.

"CNN LIVE" is going to -- "CNN LIVE TODAY" is coming up and guess who I get to toss to now? It's my old pal Ovaltine.

Daryn, how are you?

O'BRIEN: What was that about? SERWER: Do tell.

SANCHEZ: You guys don't remember that?

DARYN KAGAN, HOST, "CNN LIVE TODAY": We were co-anchors for like five minutes.

O'BRIEN: We want to know what the Ovaltine.

SANCHEZ: Boy, were we good.

KAGAN: We were so good they decided you had to be a prime time star.

SANCHEZ: You knucklehead, what have you got?

KAGAN: We have a lot coming up, in fact, you knucklehead.

Coming up, straight ahead, President Bush is making his case for the war in Iraq again. He spoke to a national television audience just last night. Now he's going to hold a news conference in about 40 minutes. We'll carry that live, of course.

Also one of "TIME" magazine's persons of the year. I visited Africa with Bono back in 2002, and I had a chance to sit down with him recently. I will go in-depth with the U2 front man. It's all coming up.

SANCHEZ: I knew you'd be all over that story. I was thinking about you this morning when I read that, as a matter of fact. Good to see you, Daryn.

KAGAN: Good to see you. You've got a good few minutes left there in New York City.

SANCHEZ: All right.

O'BRIEN: Thanks, Daryn.

Why do you call her Ovaltine?

SANCHEZ: It's just a way of saying "my old pal." That used to be a famous commercial.

SERWER: Or knucklehead?

SANCHEZ: It's an endearing phrase. Don't get something started here, you know? They'll be writing about it.

SERWER: What's he going to call us?

O'BRIEN: Nothing.

SANCHEZ: Frick and Frack?

SERWER: Soledad and Andy, you know? O'BRIEN: Soledad is just fine. Just fine.

SERWER: That works for us, by the way.

SANCHEZ: Still to come on AMERICAN MORNING. "Kong" is king when it comes to the box office bottom line, or was he? Some people were saying he should have been maybe a little better.

And a smaller on and more controversial movie about gay cowboys showing huge potential with audiences. We'll break it down. We'll be back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NAOMI WATTS, ACTRESS: No!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: "King Kong," box office, well, royalty? But really off to a slow start as far as the industry watchers are concerned. "Kong" ranking -- or raking in, I should say -- pardon me -- $50 million over the weekend. That's about $40 million short of the experts' expectations.

Now you contrast that with cowboys in love, "Brokeback Mountain." That film has gotten huge critical feedback, not to mention seven Golden Globe nominations. "Brokeback" had a weekend take of almost $2 1/2 million, playing in only 69 theaters. Now that's important. That's one of the things we're going to be talking about.

"Kong' opened in nearly 3,500 theaters, to make the comparison. So per theater, if you do the math, "Brokeback" really outperformed King Kong better than two to one at this point.

For more on "Brokeback Mountain's" performance, we have "US Weekly's" Brad -- here we go again. I did it right, though. Bradley Jacobs is joining us now for a little "AM Pop."

Just "Kong," real quick, why is that not good to have $50 million? And why are women going to see this movie?

BRADLEY JACOBS, "US WEEKLY": Universal was hoping for about 90 million over five days, and it ultimately made about $66 million over those five days, which is a very nice number but just not as high as they were expecting.

And people are saying it's because there was no central human character to this drama that people know about in advance. I've seen the film, and Naomi Watts is certainly excellent in it, and she is the human character in it. She's the drama.

But the movie maybe needs a little bit of word of mouth. It needs people saying Naomi Watts is great, "King Kong" is incredible. He's your favorite character. So I think that the movie is going have legs, as they say in Hollywood, and will end up performing and making, you know, at least $200 million. The down side is this movie cost $207 million to make. So it's got to reap in a lot of money to make up for it.

SANCHEZ: Let's talk about "Brokeback Mountain," because there's probably a lot of people watching this newscast who are probably thinking to themselves, "Well, sure, of course, critics are always going to love a movie that has a theme like this. It may not be mainstream America, but in Hollywood, it sells."

Is it really a good movie or are people right to say or criticize it in that fashion?

JACOBS: I say -- I'm here to say it is a very good movie. What Hollywood is concerned with and what they're watching very carefully is will American audiences see -- be willing to pay to see a romance between two men on screen?

SANCHEZ: That's some question, I'll tell you.

JACOBS: Yes. And this movie got more Golden Globe nominations than any other film. It's very controversial.

SANCHEZ: But is it getting them for political reasons, or is it getting them because it truly is a great movie?

JACOBS: Well, that's part...

SANCHEZ: And I think that's what a lot of people would want to know.

JACOBS: That's part of the story, too. I think both. I think it's a great film. Excellent performances. Even very conservative people have said that this is a great film, very well shot, very well directed, et cetera.

And I think that there is some political reasons we could talk about another time for why this film is gaining such support in Hollywood.

SANCHEZ: Yes, but there's an important question here, because it's an issue that usually most haven't tackled and certainly not in this form. Is this the film that will make this type of issue more mainstream in the future? And that's an important question.

JACOBS: Yes. The jury is still out on whether this one will ultimately be very, very successful. As you pointed out in the intro, it made $34,000 per screen this weekend, which is more than twice what "Kong" made.

But remember, it's only in 20 markets. It did best in L.A., New York and Toronto. It did OK and it did well, actually, in Houston, Atlanta and Pennsylvania, and it's in some suburban markets in New Jersey. SANCHEZ: Some theater owners -- some theater owners, I'm reading, aren't willing to even put it on their screen. They're saying, "No, I'm not going to put it on." That's a problem, isn't it?

JACOBS: Yes. The film is not yet in any theaters of the Deep South, nor is it any of the mountain states or the heartland. And Focus Features, the distributor of the film, is going to be platforming it slowly in the coming weeks into January. And that will be when we truly get an answer to whether America's ready to see a gay romance.

SANCHEZ: Why? Is it because -- is it possible that the only people going see it now are -- it's a very focus-type community?

JACOBS: Still a bit of a niche market. You know, when you're playing in liberal cities like L.A., New York, Toronto, that's where it's breaking records.

SANCHEZ: Yes.

JACOBS: But it will be interesting to see how it does when you get outside those markets.

SANCHEZ: That's why you're saying -- that's why you're hedging when I ask you this question. You're not willing to say full mainstream acceptance yet.

JACOBS: I'm telling you we're waiting to see.

SANCHEZ: Right. Right.

JACOBS: I can't tell you what's going to happen. I'm telling you that everyone in Hollywood is watching these numbers very carefully.

SANCHEZ: That's interesting. Great conversation, Bradley.

Always good to see you, my friend.

JACOBS: You, too.

SANCHEZ: Bradley Jacobs from "Us" magazine. Thank you.

And we'll be right back. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: A reminder that the president will be holding a news conference. That's going to happen in the East Room of the White House. We're going to take that -- those words live at 10:30 a.m. Eastern Time. We'll carry it right here for you on CNN.

Coming up tomorrow on AMERICAN MORNING, a look at a popular web site that lets teenagers post information about themselves. Most parents know it's called myspace.com. Although it's fun for teenagers to chat, it could also make them targets for predators. We'll tell you what you need to know if you're a parent. That's coming up on AMERICAN MORNING. And a reminder, we begin at 6 a.m.

A big thank you to you this morning.

SANCHEZ: See you tomorrow.

O'BRIEN: First of five days.

I know. I'll thank you each and every day.

That's it for us. Let's get right to Daryn Kagan. She's over at the CNN Center. She's going to take you through the next couple of hours.

Daryn, good morning again.

KAGAN: You guys have a great day in New York City.

O'BRIEN: Thank you.

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