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American Morning

Defending 'Little Pieces'; Iran Nuclear Standoff; Tragedy on Kilimanjaro

Aired January 12, 2006 - 06:30   ET

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

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Support from high places for one embattled author. He finally speaks out about those accusations being made about his book and gets the nod from Oprah.
Tension and tears at the Samuel Alito hearing. Have some senators pushed too hard the Supreme Court nominee?

And a long-awaited trip ends in disaster for one adventurous couple. We have the exclusive story of their trek up Mount Kilimanjaro.

ANNOUNCER: You're watching AMERICAN MORNING with Soledad O'Brien and Miles O'Brien.

M. O'BRIEN: Good morning. Glad you're with us this morning.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, good morning. Welcome back, everybody.

This really, I think, is what everybody is talking about. We were telling you yesterday about the controversy surrounding James Frey's memoir, which is called "A Million Little Pieces." Critics, like the Smoking Gun Web site, accused him of exaggerating and out and out making up some part of the book.

Well, Frey broke his silence in an exclusive interview on CNN's "LARRY KING LIVE" last night. And as AMERICAN MORNING's Kelly Wallace tells us, somebody else broke her silence, too -- somebody who helped the book become a number one seller.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KELLY WALLACE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): A surprise caller towards the end of Larry King's interview with controversial author James Frey.

LARRY KING, CNN HOST: Are you there, my friend?

OPRAH WINFREY, TALK SHOW HOST: Hello, Larry. How are you?

KING: Hello, dear one. How are you doing?

WALLACE: On the line, Oprah Winfrey.

WINFREY: Hi, James. Hi, Lynne.

JAMES FREY, AUTHOR, "A MILLION LITTLE PIECES": Hi, Oprah.

LYNNE FREY, MOTHER OF JAMES FREY: Hi, Oprah.

WALLACE: Her first comments since explosive charges that parts of Frey's memoir of addiction and rehab were more fiction than fact.

WINFREY: The underlying message of redemption in James Frey's memoir still resonates with me, and I know that it resonates with millions of other people who have read this book and will continue to read this book.

WALLACE: Winfrey seemed to stand solidly behind Frey and his book, "A Million Little Pieces," her October pick for her ever so powerful book club, but placed some of the blame on the publishing industry.

WINFREY: I am disappointed by this controversy surrounding "A Million Little Pieces," because I rely on the publishers to define the category that a book falls within and also the authenticity of the work.

WALLACE: Frey, clearly gratified by Winfrey's support, had one message that he repeated over and over to Larry King.

J. FREY: I still stand by the book as being the essential truth of my life. I'll stand by that idea till the day I die.

WALLACE: Regarding the allegations raised by the Smoking Gun investigative Web site that he fabricated key sections of the book, Frey says he has acknowledged embellishing some details, although there is no such disclaimer in his memoir.

KING: With the kind of incredible life you have had, why embellish anything?

J. FREY: I mean, I've acknowledged that there were embellishments in the book, that I've changed things, that in certain cases things were toned up, in certain cases things were toned down.

WALLACE: Frey, whose mom joined him at the end of the show, says there is one lesson he's learned after intense scrutiny of his book.

J. FREY: I'll absolutely never write about myself again.

WALLACE (on camera): And the question now is, will this controversy hurt or help book sales?

Kelly Wallace, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

S. O'BRIEN: Well, we just checked. The book is still number one on "The New York Times" best seller list, as it has been over the past 15 weeks. We'll see if it stays there.

Coming up in the next hour, Larry King is going to join us with more about that exclusive interview he had with James Frey. "LARRY KING," of course, airs on weeknights at 9:00 p.m. Eastern.

A look at other stories making news this morning. Carol has got that.

Good morning again.

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

President Bush is talking reconstruction in the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast. This will be the president's ninth visit to New Orleans since Katrina hit nearly five months ago. He'll also make a stop in Mississippi. The trip comes after the president signed a spending bill last week that includes $29 billion for hurricane relief.

The last chance to question Judge Samuel Alito. So far he's been in the hot seat now for about 19 hours without any major revelations. Supporters are praising his composure. The hearings seemed to be taking a harder toll on Alito's family. At one point -- do you see his wife there behind him starting to cry? She actually had to stand up and leave the room. Live coverage of today's hearing is coming up today at 9:00 a.m. Eastern. Wolf Blitzer opens a special edition of "THE SITUATION ROOM."

Thousands of fans are expected to pay final respects to Lou Rawls. Frank Sinatra once said Rawls possessed the silkiest chops in the singing game. The Grammy winner is also known for his dedication to the United Negro College Fund and the annual Evening of Stars Telethon he helped to create. Rawls' funeral is set for tomorrow. He died in Los Angeles Friday after battling lung and brain cancer. He was 72.

U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan could soon get more body armor. The Army says it's already shipped 9,000 pairs of extra body armor and could send 230,000 more sets this year. The announcement comes after a recently-disclosed Pentagon study which suggests the armor could have helped prevent dozens of troop deaths since 2003.

And there is nothing like a good implosion on a Thursday morning. The old Castaways Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas going. Oh, there it goes. It spent the last two years living up to its name. It was shuttered and forgotten. A series of planned explosions turned the Castaways into what you see now, just a pile of rubble. No word on what the owner will do with that plot of land.

But I suspect, Chad, it will be one huge gigantic casino, and no penny slots inside.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Probably. Although it is off the Strip. That's the old Showboat. They renamed it back in 2000. So, if you haven't been there in a while and you go, Castaways, where was that thing? Yes, that was the old Showboat. So they kept it open a little longer for me so that I could go there and lose more money.

COSTELLO: Yes, exactly.

MYERS: They were going to implode it a couple of years ago.

(WEATHER REPORT)

M. O'BRIEN: Imagine being denied an apartment just because of the way you sound on the telephone. It's called linguistic profiling. And tonight on "PAULA ZAHN NOW," an investigation into this insidious form of discrimination.

Here is Jason Carroll with a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She said, "Hold on for a second." And instead of putting me on hold, she laid the phone down. And she went to another person. And I hear their voices muffled in the background. And she was telling the woman I was on the phone inquiring about her two-bedroom apartment. And the other woman asked, "What does he sound like?"

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And you heard this person say that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

M. O'BRIEN: Now, he was told there was no apartment available. But wait until you hear what happens when a friend calls, a white friend, and asked about the apartment. I bet you can predict what happens.

The story is tonight, 8:00 Eastern, on "PAULA ZAHN NOW." We invite you to watch.

Straight ahead on the program, a trip that was supposed to be a celebration love instead ends in tragedy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have a big recollection of seeing a low- flying rock essentially go past me off to the side as I was diving for the ground.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

M. O'BRIEN: Coming up, disaster at 16,000 feet. What happened on Mount Kilimanjaro? We have an AMERICAN MORNING exclusive.

S. O'BRIEN: And then later, lots of folks venting after they got a look at the New Orleans blueprint for rebuilding. We're going to check in with two former mayors and ask them what they think. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Iran seems hell bent on continuing its efforts to resume a nuclear program of some kind. They say it has nothing to do with weapons and war but just about civilian nuclear production; nevertheless testing the patience of the world.

CNN's chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour on the phone now from Tehran. She's been there this past week. She just got out of a meeting with the top nuclear negotiator in Iran.

Christiane, what can you tell us?

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Miles, we have just had an exclusive interview with Delta (ph) Ali Larijani, who is head of the Arab National Security Council, and as such heads the nuclear negotiating team.

And, of course, with tensions rising between Iran and the West over this issue, he was very clear in our interview on two things. One, he said, Iran does want to start research again, and that to them is a non-negotiable demand. And number two, he said, it did not mean that they wanted to enrich -- that they were not about to start any kind of large-scale or commercial enrichment program enriching uranium. He said that they wanted to do was conduct research on a lab level.

And obviously because the intentions of Iran as suspect, according to the West, we asked him about whether this is entirely peaceful. And again, he insisted that, yes, their program was just for nuclear energy purposes and that the tiny amount of research they would do couldn't even be used for a weapons program, and that in any event, he said, Iran was not producing or pursuing a weapons program. This is their stance.

He also said that even though relations have been very tense now over the last week with Europe and with the United States and with the IAEA that Iran was interested in maintaining cordial relations, trying to maintain the dialogue, resuming negotiations over its nuclear program and trying to maintain (INAUDIBLE) with the IAEA, and then teaching with their research program would be done under supervision of IAEA monitors, cameras and the like.

On one issue, which was quite interesting, he responded to the issue of whether it would be OK for Russia to do the nuclear fuel cycle. In other words, for Russia to enrich the uranium Iran might need and give it to Iran. And he said they're in negotiations (AUDIO GAP).

M. O'BRIEN: I think we just lost Christiane. Christiane Amanpour in Iran.

You've been looking at pictures, by the way, those pictures that were alongside here, pictures of the International Atomic Energy Agency installing those cameras that she referred to. Those cameras will be there as a safeguard so the world can essentially watch what Iran is doing as it commences what it says is a civilian and peaceful program.

The key -- and Christiane touched on this -- is enriching uranium. Just beginning a nuclear program is one thing. Enriching uranium is what would be required to create fuel for atomic weapons. Iran says it has no intention of doing that. Those cameras are part of an effort for the world to make sure that they keep themselves to that word.

And I think we'll get Christiane back soon, we hope.

Andy, good morning.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Good morning, Miles. Good morning, Soledad.

Starbucks -- excuse me -- dominates the coffee business. It rocks the music biz. And you'll never guess where it's headed next. We'll take you there. Stay tuned to AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody. Andy is "Minding Your Business." That's just ahead. First, though, a check of the headlines. Carol has that.

Good morning.

COSTELLO: Good morning. Good morning to all of you.

President Bush is heading to the Gulf Coast this morning. His message? We have not forgotten you. The president will take part in a roundtable discussion with small business owners in New Orleans. He also plans to stop in Mississippi. He's expected to tell a crowd there that rebuilding the region remains a top priority of his administration.

Lawmakers will fire some more questions at Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito. Tempers flared Wednesday among the Senate Judiciary Committee members. One Democrat said he was troubled by some of the answers given by Judge Alito. Live coverage of today's hearing is coming up at 9:00 a.m. Eastern with Wolf Blitzer in a special edition of "THE SITUATION ROOM."

The man who tried to kill Pope John Paul II nearly 25 years ago is a free man. He's out of prison. Mehmet Ali Agca was released earlier this morning. He was taken directly to a military post to see if he's fit for military service. It's required under Turkish law. And back in 1979 Agca was a draft dodger. The shooting, by the way, Ali Agca says he'll talk about it if he's paid to do so. He's already gotten offers of up to $1 million.

South Korean cloning specialist Wayne Hwang Woo-suk was on cloud nine until reality brought him crashing to Earth. The scientist apologized on national television today for that cloning scandal that put him in the international spotlight. A panel of scientists from Seoul National University says he did not produce human stem cells as he claimed. It also said his data was falsified. The scientists, however, did credit Hwang for producing the world's first cloned dog.

Let's head to Atlanta to check in with Chad.

(WEATHER REPORT)

M. O'BRIEN: Andy Serwer is here. Starbucks really knows no bounds, do they?

SERWER: They don't.

M. O'BRIEN: I mean, waiter, there's a movie in my coffee.

SERWER: They are on the move.

M. O'BRIEN: How did that get in there?

SERWER: That's right. Starbucks is breaking into the movie business, you guys. And, of course, they're in the coffee business. They're in the music business. And now, according to "The Wall Street Journal," they're going to be announcing a major promotional deal for this film, "Akeelah and the Bee," which is a feel-good movie about an 11-year-old girl in South Los Angeles who takes on the spelling bee with the help of Lawrence Fishburne.

And they're going to promote the movie in their stores. They're going to sell the DVD and the soundtrack CD. And they're going to share in the box office. This film will be released by Lions Gate in a couple of months.

Now, they're also going to be selling other DVDs later in the year. They're going to be vetting screenplays, getting into the movie business, and then later they're going to be selling books.

This is all about Starbucks being a lifestyle company. And as McDonalds and Dunkin Donuts get into espresso and Borders has coffee, they're looking to get into other forms of entertainment.

S. O'BRIEN: It's brilliant. It's brilliant.

SERWER: I think it is.

S. O'BRIEN: And they've done well. And, you know, the name of the company is Starbucks. So it really could be anything. It's not, you know, Bob's Coffee, where you say...

SERWER: Right.

S. O'BRIEN: ... well, that's kind of a weird match with movies, I guess, this morning.

SERWER: And speaking of the name, there was this interesting court case just yesterday settled, a company in New Hampshire called Charbucks. One of these stories...

S. O'BRIEN: You can't do that.

SERWER: No, they were allowed to.

S. O'BRIEN: Really?

SERWER: The judge said yes. I was really surprised also, Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Really?

M. O'BRIEN: That's a different name.

SERWER: Well, but, you know, it's really actually ironic, because a lot of people call the company Charbucks and Starburnt, because the coffee is darker than some people are used to.

And another interesting one, a woman named Samantha Buck opened up a company called Sambucks (ph) in Oregon. But she wasn't allowed to.

M. O'BRIEN: But it's her name.

SERWER: It's her name.

M. O'BRIEN: It's her name.

SERWER: So these court cases are very confusing, aren't they?

S. O'BRIEN: Yes.

M. O'BRIEN: It depends on the judge, doesn't it?

SERWER: Yes, that's right.

S. O'BRIEN: I would have thought Charbucks would never make it.

SERWER: I would have said yes, scrap it, right?

S. O'BRIEN: Yes, strange. All right, Andy, thank you.

SERWER: Thank you.

S. O'BRIEN: Ahead this morning, Larry King is going to talk to us about last night's exclusive interview with author James Frey. Does he buy Frey's explanation of the controversy over his memoirs? And what about that surprise phone call from Oprah? That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: It was supposed to be a way for a pair of soul mates to celebrate a long, happy marriage and savor their shared passion for the environment. But what was to be a wonderful memory became a horrible nightmare amid the snow of Kilimanjaro.

Our Dan Lothian with a story of love and tragedy you'll see only here on AMERICAN MORNING.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WADE SAPP, WIDOWED HIKER: Africa.

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Wade Sapp (ph) and his wife, Betty, had decided to celebrate their 35th wedding anniversary by hiking to the top of Africa's highest peak. They never imagined it would end in disaster.

(on camera): Was there ever any discussion of danger or anything like that?

SAPP: Huh-uh.

LOTHIAN: Did you ever think there would be any?

SAPP: No.

LOTHIAN (voice over): For about a week, the two Massachusetts physicists, along with about a dozen people, hiked and marveled at nature. The couple was passionate about protecting the environment.

SAPP: You're essentially looking up at the mountain from right in its lap effectively. And it's humbling, and it's very awe- inspiring.

LOTHIAN: But just above 16,000 feet on the western slope a day before the scheduled summit...

SAPP: We all heard some cracking sounds. Weren't sure what it was. And then we looked up. And what I remember seeing first when we looked up was a piece of the head wall starting to fall away, and there was dust, you know, around it and pieces of rock that were up on the top, which were falling off of this boulder that was coming down. The largest chunk I remember, it could have been, say, 20 feet high and, you know, five or six feet wide. And I have a vague recollection of seeing a low-flying rock essentially go past me off to the side as I was diving for the ground.

LOTHIAN: A few feet away, Paul Cunha, who was part of the group, also tried to dive to safety.

PAUL CUNHA, INJURED HIKER: My eyes caught one in particular that appeared to have my name on it, but just glanced off my left shoulder and tumbled me down the hill, where I hit my head and knocked myself out.

LOTHIAN: Battered, his left shoulder broken, amazingly Sapp escaped injury. But where was his wife? Sixty-three-year-old Betty had been hiking about 30 feet ahead. It wouldn't take long for his worst fears to be confirmed that his wife of 35 years was killed in the rock slide.

SAPP: She was hit in the head by a large fragment, and it was -- she was carried back about 10 or 15, 20 feet before she hit the ground again. And it was just instantaneous. The uncertainties of life.

LOTHIAN: A week after the accident, Sapp, who had his wife cremated overseas, is back home alone. SAPP: We were soul mates.

LOTHIAN: Sapp has no children, but he's working through his pain with the help of other relatives and close friends, and for now plans to go forward with a trip to China in the spring. It's what he says Betty would have wanted.

Dan Lothian, CNN, Melrose, Massachusetts.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

M. O'BRIEN: Wade Sapp had a mountain guide take some of his wife's ashes to the top of Kilimanjaro. He also plans to spread some during future trips so he can be -- she can be with him, I should say, every step of the way.

Let's get a check of the weather. Chad with that.

(WEATHER REPORT)

MYERS: The next hour of AMERICAN MORNING starts right now.

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