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American Morning

Firing Questions at the Vice President; Latest on Courtroom Drama Unfolding in Baghdad

Aired February 14, 2006 - 07:00   ET

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

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. I'm Miles O'Brien.
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Zain Verjee, in for Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Firing questions at the vice president. Many want to know why it took so long to report that hunting accident, while late night comedians take aim with their own shots. We're live at the White House.

A failure of leadership. That's what one new reports says of the government's handling of post-Hurricane Katrina. And now a call for change in Homeland Security.

VERJEE: Saddam on a hunger strike. The latest courtroom drama unfolding this morning in Baghdad.

And to Torino we go. Skiing superstar Bode Miller back on the slopes. We're live with the latest on this AMERICAN MORNING.

The question buzzing around Washington today, how long was too long for the nation to find out that Dick Cheney had accidentally shot someone? It took almost about 24 hours. A lot of people want to know why still.

White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux joining us from the White House with more on that.

What is the White House saying, Susan?

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Miles, as you know. I mean, yesterday, the White House was bombarded with questions after it took them nearly 24 hours to disclose this accident, the hunting accident with Vice President Cheney that he accidentally shot his hunting companion Harry Whittington, and that his office actually left it up to a private individual, the owner of the ranch, to actually deliver this news.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECY.: The vice president spoke with Mrs. Katharine Armstrong, and they agreed that she should make that information public. She was an eyewitness. She saw what occurred, and she called her local paper to provide those facts to the local paper, and the vice president's office was ready to comment on it at that point. (END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: And so at that point we're talking about is nearly 24 hours later. It was understood, the vice president office saying they wanted to take care of Harry Whittington first. That was their first priority. And then also Mrs. Armstrong, the owner of the ranch, tells us that Mr. Cheney spent the night at the ranch that night, that they did not talk about actually disclosing this to the media, to the public, until the following morning -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Meanwhile, we find out, Suzanne, the vice president was hunting illegally. Tell us about that.

Well, it's interesting, because Texas authorities investigating this accidental shooting, they clear him of the shooting, but then in doing so, find out that he has -- he did not have a stamp that is actually supposed to go on his Texas hunting license. That's required by law. The only official statement we got from the vice president's office was, in fact, they are sending that $7 to Texas authorities to clear that whole matter up, but the president did get a warning for that citation.

O'BRIEN: All right, I think did you say president? I think vice president.

MALVEAUX: Vice president.

O'BRIEN: All right. Check's in the mail, as they say.

Suzanne Malveaux, thank you very much -- Zain.

VERJEE: Miles, Homeland Secretary Michael Chertoff may feel like he has been hit by bird shot. Chertoff may be smarting from a scathing House panel assessment on how Hurricane Katrina was handled. AMERICAN MORNING's Bob Franken joins us now live from the nation's capital.

Good morning, Bob.

What's the administration planning to do with the criticism?

Well, they say they're going to make changes. Chertoff was supposed to appear before a Senate panel today. It would have been his second major congressional appearance, but that hearing has been postponed, because according to the announcement, there are too many Senate votes right now. But on the House side, there is a scathing report that has been put out by House Republicans. None of the Democrats on this special committee participated in this.

It described the response to Katrina, and I'm quoting, as a "national failure," and described Chertoff's role as "late, ineffective or not at all." Some of the other criticisms that have been leveled at FEMA include the fact that they were complaints about bad communications that had been so well documented in the months. And the mindset at FEMA when it was folded into the Department of Homeland Security, that, in itself, was controversial, that there was total emphasis on terrorism with little thought being given to a response to a natural disaster. All of that is rejected by the people at Homeland Security.

Chertoff held a news conference where he said he wants to look forward.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL CHERTOFF, DIR. OF HOMELAND SECURITY: I want to be clear, as the secretary of Homeland Security, I'm accountable and accept responsibility for the performance of the entire department, good and bad. I also have the responsibility to fix what went wrong so we can meet the president's expectations and the public's expectations for helping disaster victims as quickly and effectively as possible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRANKEN: And as for the criticisms that President Bush who had been vacationing at the ranch in Crawford, Texas when this was unfolding, the criticism that he was not really involved in the planning, his representative, the White House representative investigating all this, says that the president, in fact, was, quote, "highly engaged." And still there are of course a lost questions so many months later about how FEMA is still handling those and mishandling those who are left in the wake of Hurricane Katrina -- Zain.

VERJEE: Bob Franken reporting. Thanks, Bob -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Just minutes ago, the trial of Saddam Hussein adjourned again. They'll get back together in two weeks, February 28th. Today's session lasted less than three hours, and it got off to a bang.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SADDAM HUSSEIN, FMR. IRAQI PRES.: We have been on a hunger strike for three days in protest against the treatment from you when your masters.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Hussein arrived shouting, insulting the judge, complaining about the judge and the defense attorneys. As you just heard, he claims he's on a hunger strike.

CNN's Aneesh Raman on the phone with us now from Baghdad. He's been watching this amazing roller coaster trial as it is unfolding.

Aneesh, it just gets stranger ever day.

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN INTL. CORRESPONDENT: It does. It was -- every time you come into this courtroom, you're not sure what surprise is going to emerge. Today, as you say, Saddam Hussein announcing he has been on a hunger strike for three days. It's unclear how many of the other defendants are joining in. We did hear from Saddam's half- brother, who said he is as well on the hunger strike, and we heard from the former chief judge of the Revolutionary Court, Awad Bandar, saying that he hasn't eaten for two days.

Now the rest of the session really seemed much more control than the chaos we've seen before. We heard from three witnesses, one of them anonymous, two others speaking openly to the court. All of them former members of Saddam's regime, but all of them saying at the start that they had nothing to add to the case. It's really unremarkable testimony throughout. One of the witnesses, virtually every phrase was I heard from someone else, or I recall hearing other people say, I hear, saying nothing definitive.

We did hear from Saddam's court-appointed defense lawyers. They were questioning the veracity of the report. And essentially the most prominent defense lawyer in the courtroom has been Saddam's half- brother, Barzan Hassan Al-Tikriti, who spoke extensively today. The judge allowing him that latitude, really a signal that this trial is finding some common ground between the judge and the defendants.

So set to resume on the 28th. Unclear why. They have yet to tell us, but Likely because of logistical reasons, bringing witnesses to the court that are being held in custody -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Aneesh, when we talked yesterday, we were talking about how perhaps the trial had reached a turning point. The issue here, of course, new judge, a more strict judge, as we look at pictures of him. Do you still feel that same way? Do you feel like he's found the right balance between being stern and allowing a little bit of latitude?

RAMAN: Yes, I think we're starting to see that today. He essentially wanted to come out of the gate early on, showing that he was going to be authority figure, and his first session, he had Saddam's half-brother forcibly removed, allowed the defense lawyers to walk out and barred them from the proceedings, so he established his authority right from the start, and he's done so all the way up until now. What we're seeing are the defendants really being worn down by that sense. No longer confronting him with the same veracity that they have before, starting to call him sir at times, allowing themselves to be cut off by the judge, sitting down when told, speaking respectfully at time.

The quips that we've heard today, the names and insults he's been called, we'll likely hear throughout, but he really does seem to be hitting a stride in terms of managing this court.

Now the fact that we're taking another delay until February 28th, that's another matter. It's not about the (INAUDIBLE) judge; it's about the logistical difficulties of conducting a trial of this sort in Iraq at this time -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Aneesh Raman, thank you very much.

(WEATHER REPORT)

VERJEE: Coming up, Olympic star Bode Miller hits the slopes again today. Will the bad boy of downhill skiing take home the gold? We'll go live to Torino.

O'BRIEN: Homeland Security Chief Michael Chertoff lays out his plan to fix FEMA, but some say he's the problem.

VERJEE: And more on the vice president's hunting accident. Did the White House shoot itself in the foot by waiting so long to go public?

That's next on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JON STEWART, "THE DAILY SHOW" HOST": Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot a man during a quail hunt at a political supporter's ranch, making 78-year-old Harry Whittington the first person shot by a sitting veep since Alexander Hamilton! Hamilton! Alexander Hamilton, of course, was shot in a duel with Aaron Burr over issues of honor, integrity and political maneuvering. Whittington was mistaken for a bird!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VERJEE: Late night comics are having a field day with that hunting accident involving the vice president. The jokes really being made easier because the victim, Harry Whittington, is recovering quickly and in stable condition, but it is also drawing sharp criticism. It happened on Saturday, but Cheney's office didn't disclose it until the next afternoon, and that was after the family who owned the ranch told a Corpus Christi newspaper about it.

Joining us now from Washington to talk a little bit about the fallout is Mike Allen of "Time" magazine.

Mike, good to have you.

MIKE ALLEN, "TIME" MAGAZINE: Happy valentine's day, Zain.

VERJEE: Thank you. And you, too.

Why did take so long for the White House to come out with this?

ALLEN: Well, Zain, it was the vice president decided this should be announced through the local paper the next day, rather than the systems that are in place for notifying White House press corps when something occurs.

VERJEE: Why?

ALLEN: The White House staff back here in D.C. was pushing to push the information out. It was obvious to them what sun folding this week, which it was going to be a much bigger, much longer running story if it looked like a cover-up or incompetent story, as opposed to a shooting that turned out to be kind of minor. God kept a strong hand on Mr. Whittington. He's going to be fine. Mr. Whittington is a Republican close to this White House. He wasn't going to complain. I think, Zain, when we saw the wire story Sunday afternoon, we knew the late night comics would be at it for a few days, and that might be it.

Instead, there's still no complete chronology. The president has not talked about it on camera. The vice president who was at the White House yesterday has not talked about it on camera. I saw that photo in "The New York Times" of the vice president going in the side door of the White House. It looked like undercover photo. That's not the message he wants to be sending now.

And of course, Zain, there's a huge opportunity cost to this for the president's agenda. Yesterday, the president's Homeland Security Adviser Fran Townsend gave a very important speech about national preparedness, an issue that actually does matter. The White House put out a very fascinating fact annual economic report with forecast for the year ahead talking about the importance of a trained workforce, but there wasn't a lot of news time for those.

VERJEE: What does this do to the vice president's image? I mean, the public already perceives him as secretive, as tight-lipped, he hates the media. What does it do to the public perception?

ALLEN: Well, of course, the vice president has an opportunity to come out here and maybe explain his thinking, and give some insight as to why he did this. Nobody expects the vice president to be an expert in press relations. He's vice president. That's why he has staff who does that, and that's why you need to defer to those people. We all have different gifts.

But instead, he set up this plan and insisted on sticking to it. I think it also is going to raise questions about the structure of this White House, and whether having the vice president's office as such an autonomous unit is always helpful.

And of course, Zain -- excuse me, I'm sorry. Go ahead.

VERJEE: Scott McClellan had a pretty rough time with reporters yesterday. I want to just take a listen to one of the exchanges.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUESTION: You got a situation room here. You got people who monitor stuff. It's impossible to find out -- I mean, the vice president knew immediately, oh, no, I shot somebody accidentally, and it takes 22 hours...

MCCLELLAN: You know what his first reaction was? His first reaction was go to Mr. Whittington and get his team in there to provide him medical care.

QUESTION: Why is it, it took so long for the president, for you, for anybody else to know that the vice president accidentally shot somebody?

(END VIDEO CLIP) VERJEE: What more problems does this create for the White House? I mean, it's dealing with, you know, the Jack Abramoff scandal, with the CIA leak, and so many other issues. What does this do?

ALLEN: Well, Zain, this is ironic, because this is a president who insists on perfection in the mechanics of his White House. He has (INAUDIBLE) and other people on his staff. These are young guys who are like they have MBAs before they've even gone to business school. And yet you get a serious incident like this, and that system appears to break down.

Now you have poor Scott McClellan there, who had been pushing to get the information out, he's the one who's taking the bullet for what occurred. One of the nation's most shrewd communicators sent me a BlackBerry during that briefing that said, "Scott is getting the hickey and he didn't even get the kiss."

VERJEE: Perhaps for Valentine's Day.

Mike Allen, thank you so much for joining us on AMERICAN MORNING.

Later this hour, our old friend Andy Borowitz will stop by and take his best humorous shot at the vice president -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Coming up, will it be miller time in Turin? Bad boy skier Bode Miller back on the Olympic slopes today. We have a live preview for us.

And you might want to save those important e-mails. One company has to shell out $15 million for hitting the delete key. Andy "Minding Your Business" on that one.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VERJEE: Do you talk with your spouse about finances? Well, a new survey is telling us something a little bit about that.

Andy Serwer is "Minding Your Business."

Do you?

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: I do. I'm forced to. I have to. I should. My wife insists. Men and women look at money differently, Zain. And of course this is not a surprise. But it's highlighted in a new study of 1,500 wealthy people by PNC Financial Services. Some interesting findings here.

Men and women, what about sharing responsibility, talking about money? Sixty-eight percent of women say they do, but only 48 percent of men say they do. In other words, so men aren't sharing as much information as women are.

VERJEE: Why?

SERWER: Well, because they don't want to.

And this reminds me of a book that someone gave my wife, "How to Hide Money From Your Husband." I saw her with this book, and I said, sweetheart! Darling!

O'BRIEN: Wait, wait, how to hide the book first, right? I mean, that's the first thing.

SERWER: She wasn't very good at hiding the book. She insisted that she wasn't really reading the book, that someone had actually had just given it to her. I'm not quite sure what to believe.

Let's move on to this next screen, because is pretty interesting, too. Is it important for both sexes to contribute financially. Women say, 83 percent of them yes, which means, you know, I need to contribute, the husband, the wife. Now look here, men only 65 percent. I think that is sort of the mentality, no need to, I'll take care of the little lady. You know, it's a little different, right? Interesting stuff.

VERJEE: Yes, it is. Why do you think that is?

SERWER: Well, I just that, you know, it just goes back to how men and women were raised differently, and different expectations. And you know, back 30 years ago, 40 years ago, we're talking about single-income families where the dad worked and the mom didn't, and we grew up that way. Obviously, very different today. But we're still living with that mindset, I think.

VERJEE: Let's talk about another story that you've been working on, Morgan Stanley paying, what, $15 million is it, to retrieve deleted e-mails?

SERWER: Fined for deleting e-mails actually, Zain. And what's going on here, you know, this company has been in litigation, involving Ronald Pearlman. The SEC has been investigating. In 2002, they were ordered to not delete any of the e-mail that might pertain to this case. Oops, they did. And you know, if you got sensitive e- mail about some sort of project you're working on, it's better to just let it lie. Deleting it may get you in trouble. We know that e-mail is so sensitive these days, right?

VERJEE: Yes, we do.

SERWER: Be careful what you say.

VERJEE: Always do. Just talk on the phone, never in writing.

SERWER: Right, yes.

VERJEE: Andy Serwer, thanks.

SERWER: Thanks, Zain.

VERJEE: Miles? O'BRIEN: You know, I would like that trumpet flourish before everything I say henceforth, Michael? Can you do that for me, just a little trumpet flourish? It makes me feel so important.

Anyway, Bode Miller back on the big hill this morning. But is it Miller time in Turin, or Torino?

First, let's check the medal count, shall we? Norway leading the way with eight. Andy is a big Norway fan. Go Norway. And so far, however, no one can match, however, the gold rush by the U.S., which has four gold medals. Norway wins the total medals. We got the gold.

Let's zoom in to Turin or Torino, whatever you like. There it is up in the Alps. Excellent work on the Google Earth there.

CNN's Larry Smith is there. We couldn't see him out on the satellite image, but there he is right there, via television.

Let's talk about Bode Miller. Bode Miller. I know you weren't pub crawling with him last night, but I do know this. The last -- his last go-round, he didn't even show up for the pre-race inspection, which is a big deal if you're a downhill racer, right? Do we know if everything is going smoothly thus far?

LARRY SMITH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the skiing, the slopes where the alpine events are taking place, actually it's a minimum two- hour drive from here, so no, we can only assume he is there, and have reports as they are warranted.

But the thing with Bode Miller, the reports in the several weeks leading up to Games is that there have been issues with him on the U.S. team, in terms of his adhering to team rules, and getting along with coaches and things like that. But there's no question he has talent and, therefore, he is still a medal contender in there. He did finish fifth in the downhill in a very tough course, but maybe today he can do a little better.

O'BRIEN: Hey, Larry, you know, we have focused so much on his -- the allegations of carousing, and He personally admitted on "60 Minutes" he has skied, I think the term was "wasted," or hung over, whatever.

My question is this, it's not so much that little specific event as it is his overall mindset and whether he is really committed to the sport right now. What's your take on that? He's not in the best shape either, is he?

SMITH: Well, you know, here's the thing is that there's no question of his talent, and I think if you look through history in terms of athletes, and their talent and their conditioning, they don't always match up. So that's kind of hard to, you know, how many of us really truly know when he was in his very top physical shape in terms of, you know, not drinking and being physically in good condition? And how did he perform in that compared to other times?

So all we can do is we know the talent that he has and hopefully that can turn into a medal for the U.S. team.

O'BRIEN: Yes, it makes you wonder if he had higher level of commitment, how good he'd be. Hey, I'm going to interview Picabo Street in just a little bit, greatest name in Olympic sports. What would you ask her if you had one question for Picabo, What would it be?

SMITH: What I would ask her is her fondest memory, because you know, she was the face of alpine skiing in the '90s. Everyone knew Picabo Street, and even if you didn't know how to spell her name, which is a little bit different, or if you once even mispronounced her name, as I once called her "Pecabo" Street, many, many, many, many, many years ago. But I also, my big thing, is because she was so much fun to watch. I think really brought a lot of fans who didn't otherwise watch the sport to the sport of skiing.

O'BRIEN: Excellent all right, fondest memories, a lot of fans. Larry Smith says's is sorry about the "Pecabo" thing. All right, got it. Thank you.

SMITH: She probably surely has forget about that, yes.

O'BRIEN: All right "Laree" Smith, thank you very much.

Coming up on the program, Vice President Cheney's hunting accident certainly gave comedians plenty of ammunition. We'll take a look at how it has turned into open season on the VP. Among the people with a hunting license in that realm, Conan O'Brien. And he is playing a huge role in Finnish politics, basically ushering in the re- election of the Finnish prime minister. Who knows, he might be on the cabinet there.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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