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American Morning
Ports Deal; A Big Day in Houston at Enron Trial
Aired March 06, 2006 - 08:34 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: The top guy at Dubai Ports World says it is full speed ahead for that deal to manage six U.S. ports, but more and more, some members of Congress are saying let's drop anchor for a little while. Live now to CNN's Kathleen Koch at the White House for more on all this.
Hello, Kathleen.
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Miles.
And yes, the CEO of Dubai Ports World is truly out putting on a full-court press to try to convince Americans to trust his company. In an exclusive interview over the weekend with CNN's Wolf Blitzer, Muhammad Chirac says that his company meets security standards in five continents where it operates, and he insists that they would not get business if they weren't safe.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MOHAMMED SHARAF, CEO, DUBAI PORTS WORLD: Number one, there's a misconception about port operators. Port operators don't control the security of the port. Any personnel coming in to work in U.S. will have to go through U.S. immigration, will have to go through U.S. security authorities and then only they can come in and work.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOCH: Still, even top Republican lawmakers are saying they are not convinced, and are planning on introducing legislation to change this process that would turn over operations of some six U.S. ports to this Dubai company. One of them, California Congressman Duncan Hunter, on one of the Sunday morning talk shows says the Bush administration did not study the deal carefully enough.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. DUNCAN HUNTER (R), ARMED SERVICES CHAIRMAN: I think they looked at it from a very superficial level, and they didn't get the intelligence briefs that go to Dubai's activities to trans-ship things like centrifuge parts, and I think if the president gets that information -- I think he's probably getting it now -- I think we're going to see a turnaround.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOCH: President Bush, who returned Sunday from a four-day trip to Asia, though, is not showing signs to back down. He continues to insist that he will veto any congressional efforts to block the port deal -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Thank you very much, Kathleen Koch at the House. Wolf Blitzer will be live from Dubai this afternoon, a special editor of "THE SITUATION ROOM," 4:00 p.m. Eastern, 7:00 p.m. also Easter, a special edition of THE "SITUATION ROOM." We invite you to tune in -- Carol.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: There will be an anti-terrorism rally at the University of North Carolina today. It will be held on the very same spot where a man drove an SUV into a crowd of students on Friday. Mohanda Braza Tahari Azar (ph), a native of Iran, will make his first court appearance this morning. He told police he wanted to avenge the death of murders of Muslims around the world. No one was seriously injured Friday, but students were very shaken up.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was going, like, 40 miles an hour, and then people were just jumping out of the way, and, like, I dove out of the way. And then the guy who was standing right beside me just got hit by the car. And then, like, I saw a girl dive and hit a trash can, like she hit her face on the trash can, and the car just didn't slow down at all and just completely caught a tire, and went around the side of Lenore and went up by Davis and hit, like, two more people, and then apparently he, like, went up on to like Old East or something and hit another girl there.
I mean, basically it was the craziest thing I've seen in my life, and I've never been scareder, to be honest you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: The car plowed into the Pit, a crowded student hangout. The driver has been charged with nine counts of assault with a deadly weapon.
(WEATHER REPORT)
O'BRIEN: A big day in Houston at the Enron trial. Andy Fastow is ready to take the witness stand. The former chief financial officer of the failed energy trading company. Up until now, Fastow has been silent while his bosses attorneys, Ken Lay, Jeff Skilling, the former bosses, have blamed him for Enron's collapse.
Now as Chris Huntington reports, Fastow could point the finger right back at them.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRIS HUNTINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The hottest ticket in Houston is to federal court, to see Andrew Fastow take the stand in the government's case against Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling. The infamous off-the-book deals that Fastow helped create, ultimately sent Enron into collapse. Federal prosecutors hope his testimony will send his former bosses to prison. JACOB ZAMANSKY, SECURITIES LAWYER: Andy Fastow is going to explain in detail how Enron hid the losses in the partnerships that he set up, and he's going to say that Lay and Skilling were right there with him, they knew everything and they approved it.
HUNTINGTON: Fastow was once Enron's financial boy wonder, but became the fed's biggest catch when he was charged with 98-count indictment.
In early 2004, he cut a deal, pleading guilty to two counts and agreeing to cooperate in return for a 10-year prison sentence.
Fastow was 28 when he joined Enron in 1990, not renowned for his command of accounting principles, he did have a talent for creating complex transactions that inflated Enron's profits by sweeping losses and debts off of its public financial statements.
DOUG CARMICHAEL, BARUCH COLLEGE: Someone with some understanding of business should be able to pick up the financial statements, read the notes, and understand the full effect of those transactions on the financial statements. With Enron, they couldn't.
HUNTINGTON: In the late '90s, analysts applauded Fastow's financial wizardry as groundbreaking and innovative. He won "CFO" magazine's excellence award in 1999. But when Fastow's deals started to fail in late 2001, Enron buckled under its massive debt, imploding into what was then the biggest bankruptcy in U.S. history. Initially Fastow and his lawyers insisted he had just followed orders.
DAVID BOIES, FASTOW DEFENSE LAWYER: Those transactions will be transactions that were reviewed by the board of directors of Enron, reviewed by the top management of Enron, and which, I believe the record will show, the audit committee of the board and the outside auditors.
HUNTINGTON: That argument failed to protect Fastow, but it will likely be the crux of his testimony, that Jeff Skilling and Ken Lay knew exactly what the off-the-book deals were used for, a shell game to fool investigators and prop up Enron.
Chris Huntington, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(MARKET REPORT)
O'BRIEN: Anybody with kids knows what a pain ear infections can be. It will keep you up all night. It will. Pretty soon, there may be a new way to prevent them. That's get rid of the kids, that would be one way. No, there is actually a better way. Coming up, we'll explain how in "House Call."
And next in "AM Pop," who sizzled, who fizzled on the red carpet? That's a sizzle. Would you say it's a sizzle?
COSTELLO: Oh, yes. O'BRIEN: That one is a big fizzle, I think. You know?
(CROSSTALK)
O'BRIEN: All right, we're going to check in with on all these matters -- you know what you like -- coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
M. O'BRIEN: It's the morning after in Hollywood. I imagine a few of the starlets will be awakening in their gowns, if you know what I mean.
COSTELLO: Starlets?
M. O'BRIEN: Don't they have -- they're starlets this year. They're all up and comers.
COSTELLO: Yes, all right.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes, and of course some of them may still be partying, for all we know.
COSTELLO: That's true, but we're focusing right now on the red carpet fashions, who looked hot and why. Who was not.
Style maven Lloyd Boston, author of "Before You Put That On," joins us now in "A.M. Pop" with his colorful commentary.
LLOYD BOSTON, STYLE EXPERT: Well, I like to think of it as those who were chic and those who were last week. There's a big difference. You know, hot and not's a little old. Either you're chic or you're kind of last week. That way, it's not so harsh.
COSTELLO: I know. What I said was "So Was" magazine, wasn't it? Let's start with the good, because Jessica Alba looks absolutely stunning.
BOSTON: Yes. And you know what? She did the age appropriate thing. When it comes down to looking chic in your 20s, you really want to honor the classic tradition of the red carpet, but you want to make it sexy, but also stately. She chose gold satin lace from Versace. A halter gown that was -- also matched with those sweet, big yellow diamond earrings, which I thought were quite nice as well.
M. O'BRIEN: I thought you were going to say something else. She would be a starlet, wouldn't you...
BOSTON: Absolutely.
M. O'BRIEN: All right, thank you.
BOSTON: Yes, she's a starlet.
M. O'BRIEN: I'm just checking.
COSTELLO: Actually, most newspapers say Keira Knightley was really the best dressed, though.
BOSTON: Yes, I think she took home my best dressed award. She was totally chic. She chose the eggplant Vera Wang number that was that gorgeous kind of trumpet-shaped. And again, she didn't look like she was trying to dress too old, and I like that about her.
COSTELLO: Even with that heavy jewelry on? Because, you know, some aspects of the 80s are coming back, sadly, and that's really one of them.
BOSTON: Big, bold, kind of really ostentatious jewelry. But I think this was -- this worked for her. One, it was a vintage piece, so it didn't look like you could find it anywhere today. I like that.
M. O'BRIEN: Maybe if she has a good year she can afford two straps next year, huh?
BOSTON: OK, I get where you're going here. We're leaving you out of this. This is real fashion talk.
COSTELLO: Mr. Fashion Maven. Felicity Huffman had an interesting dress. Some people liked it; others really didn't, said it was too much for her age.
BOSTON: But I liked it. I thought it was totally chic, because she swung to a younger designer, Zac Posen, who's a designer in his 20s. He offered that black satin, deep V-neck dress with the sheer panels, plunging neckline. And again, Zac Posen is the red carpet and the runway darling these days. So for her to give him a chance said a lot about who she is and I love that.
COSTELLO: OK, let's get to the fun.
BOSTON: You know what? I was...
COSTELLO: Who not so chic?
BOSTON: I feel bad about these. I was overrun with e-mails on lloydboston.com. Women were actually e-mailing me and complaining about these dresses, as if I had anything to do with it!
M. O'BRIEN: Last night you're watching and you're getting e- mails...
BOSTON: And my e-mails are coming into my Web site. But I felt bad. The first person that got the last week look was Charlize. I mean, she really...
COSTELLO: I know!
BOSTON: Everything was going up. The bow...
M. O'BRIEN: You can't see her behind that bow!
BOSTON: The bow was going up, the hair was going up, my pressure was going up. Everything was just up. And I just thought it was a poor choice for someone who's such a great starlet. She looked a lot older than she needed to that night. She was wearing John Galliano for Christian Dior. And the big bow, I think, was just a little heavy. It was leaning her over to the left all night.
COSTELLO: If she just took that off, it would have been great.
BOSTON: Maybe her cell phone and her goods were in there.
M. O'BRIEN: Her swag bag.
BOSTON: Exactly. There you go.
M. O'BRIEN: She's at the chiropractor today.
COSTELLO: All right, let's talk about Naomi Watts. Because I personally think she looked lovely.
BOSTON: Well, you know, I think she looked a little washed out. These types of dresses like she wore look amazing on the runways. This was a Givenchy and it was sandy pink sheer number.
(CROSSTALK)
BOSTON: Absolutely, and it almost -- you know, it kind is taking the attention away from her beauty. It's almost a kind of a sheered, tattered take on Ms. Havisham. You know, it kind of takes you back to that place. You don't want to get too close to a flame in that. But I think these things look much better on the runways. The red carpet, you need to keep it simple. So I would give her a last week on that.
COSTELLO: Speaking of keeping it simple...
M. O'BRIEN: She looks too skinny, though, just for the record.
COSTELLO: She's gorgeous. Dolly Parton. I was so glad to see Dolly Parton, because you need a little Cher in these things. And she was the little Cher that we yearned for.
BOSTON: Yes, well, I wouldn't say little! She was certainly -- Dolly was there in full force. The twins were up where they belong. Everything fits perfectly, which I love. This was pink chiffon from her designer, designer Robert Behar. Now, again, she is Dolly. We expect her to be Dolly. If she came in something sensible, then we would really think something was wrong.
COSTELLO: How old is Dolly?
BOSTON: You know what, I think would probably say 40. Let's play it safe here.
M. O'BRIEN: And holding.
BOSTON: Absolutely. Forty and holding.
COSTELLO: She's got to be in her late 60s, though, right? BOSTON: Yes. And she looks amazing. She certainly is keeping things in place, whether it's done naturally or by the hands of another. But whatever it takes, honey...
COSTELLO: I think by her own admission...
BOSTON: You look great.
COSTELLO: ... it ain't natural.
M. O'BRIEN: Can we just show a picture of Reese?
BOSTON: Yes, certainly.
M. O'BRIEN: Because we're out of time. We're going to have to skip the colors but...
BOSTON: Well, she got a little panned, even though she walked away with a big award.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes, I mean, you didn't like this?
BOSTON: It looked a little heavy, and also people are saying it was worn a few years back by Kirsten Dunst.
M. O'BRIEN: Was it, in fact?
BOSTON: So this was a Chanel number...
COSTELLO: I thought that was the last one, where she...
BOSTON: You know, the rumors are speculating. I think this was a Chanel number. What we didn't like about this dress is that it appeared heavy on a girl that is just so light and airy and fresh. It was weighing her down a bit as she carried it, as she walked up. It just kind of seemed a little cumbersome. So you may want to shorten that and make it a knee-length number for next year if you decide to wear it again.
COSTELLO: Will do!
M. O'BRIEN: But when she smiles, you just forget about it, don't you?
BOSTON: Absolutely. She's a gorgeous gal.
M. O'BRIEN: Thanks, Lloyd, for dropping by. Style expert Lloyd Boston, author of "Before You Put That On." Don't put the bow on there before you put that on. Thanks for being with us.
BOSTON: Anytime.
COSTELLO: We'll have our top stories coming up in just a minute. You stick around.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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