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American Morning

President Bush To Visit New Orleans; Iraq Vet Shooting

Aired March 08, 2006 - 07:30   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.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Columbus Circle is not on fire. Don't worry. That's just a little . . .

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: No. What is all that steam coming up there?

MILES O'BRIEN: You know, cold weather steam thing going on.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: More than usual today.

MILES O'BRIEN: Yes. Yes.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: It's still a beautiful shot.

Welcome back, everybody.

We're going to follow up a story that we've loved telling you about. Because you'll remember that terrible fall of that cheerleader, Kristi Yamaoka, took the other day. And after she falled I mean, look, this is a videotape. Oh, it's brutal.

MILES O'BRIEN: Kind of hard to see, but I see enough.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: They do a pyramid. She rolls off and it is horrible. Everyone surrounds her. They're, of course, terrified that she's very severely injured herself. And look, as she's being wheeled away on the gurney, continues to do the cheer. She says she wanted to make sure -- this was an important game and she wanted to send the message to the team, don't worry about me, focus on the game. They went on to win. We love this girl. We're going to have her story in her words. Look at her.

MILES O'BRIEN: And there she is. There she is. A little bit of a -- you know, a little worse for the wear. But, geez, when you consider how terrible this could have been.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: And doctors say full recovery ahead for this young lady. We're going to talk to her a little bit later this morning.

First, though, lots of other news to get to. Carol's got that. She's in the newsroom for us.

Good morning. CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

Good morning to all of you.

The U.S. and Iran trading threats over nukes. Iran says it will continue to pursue its nuclear research no matter what. Earlier this morning, the U.S. issued a statement calling on Iran to stop uranium enrichment or faces consequences. The U.N. Atomic Agency is meeting in Vienna. We're expecting to hear from them later this morning. When we do, we'll pass those comments along to you.

New attacks leave at least five people dead in Iraq today and there has been quite a gruesome discovery in western Baghdad. Police there have found the bodies of 18 men. They were strangled with their hands tied behind their backs. The bodies found at a Kia mini bus. No word on who the men are.

President Bush expected to sign The Patriot Act into law. It could happen as early as today. The House voted last night to renew the measure. Despite safeguards, critics say the measure still steps on civil liberties.

Congress appears heading for a veto showdown for the White House. At issue, the Dubai based ports deal. Some House members have written legislation to delay or block the deal. Today they'll try to attach it to a billion dollar measure to pay for the war in Iraq. Wow.

And Barry Bonds reportedly started using steroids because he was jealous of Mark McGwire. It's one of the claims in a new book against the slugger. Two San Francisco "Chronicle" reports claim Bonds used a wide range of performance-enhancing drugs beginning back in 1998. An excerpt from the book, "Game of Shadows," appears in this week's issue of "Sports Illustrated." And if you're wondering what Bonds has to say about it, he says he's not even going to look at the book. He doesn't care. But, you know, baseball could have something to say about it, Miles.

MILES O'BRIEN: I have a feeling he'll look at the book. That's just my take on it. Yes.

COSTELLO: I don't know, but maybe baseball will look at the book. And if they find . . .

MILES O'BRIEN: You think?

COSTELLO: Yes. Absolutely.

MILES O'BRIEN: I think so. I think so. This is just the beginning, I think, of another chapter in the Bonds story.

Thank you, Carol.

President Bush due in New Orleans just about two hours from now. It's now been more than six months since Katrina hit there. The storm of controversy over how the administration handled things doesn't seem to want to dissipate. Live now to the CNN Gulf Coast bureau, our Correspondent Susan Roesgen is there.

Good morning, Susan.

What is the president going to see today?

SUSAN ROESGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Miles.

We're really not sure yet what his agenda is going to be. We assume that he may be looking at some of the levees in New Orleans and he'll be talking about a new $20 billion proposal to help the Gulf Coast recover.

Now this particular place where I'm at this morning. This is a little coffee shop and candy store. We don't expect to see the president here this morning. He could step in for a cup of coffee but we don't expect to see him here. And yet the shop owner says that the government has made some promises that she would like the president to keep.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROESGEN, (voice over): Lined up on wax paper, these blobs of sugar and butter and pecans are a New Orleans favorite. They're pralines, only Yankees say praline, made by Loretta Harrison from a recipe passed down to her from her grandmother. Since the hurricane, Loretta's praline business is back up and running, but she says she's struggling to make end's meet.

LORETTA HARRISON, BUSINESS OWNER: I'm willing to roll up my sleeves and get to work and all we ask is that the federal government will send in the money that we're promised so that each and every one of us can do the same thing, roll up our sleeves and move forward.

ROESGEN: Loretta was with a group of small business owners who met with President Bush the last time he was in New Orleans, almost two months ago. Back then, she was waiting to get approved for a government loan of $250,000. Now she's gotten the approval, but she says the government only releases the money in drips and drabs, less than she needs each month to pay a handful of employees and keep the business going.

HARRISON: This is the mixture for the original pralines that we make here.

ROESGEN: That you still make even after the hurricane. But there's something else in this kitchen that I want you to see. Not just butter and sugar and pecans, other foods are being prepared in this kitchen now. Another way that Loretta is surviving after the hurricane.

While New Orleans doesn't have many tourists these days to buy pralines, Loretta found that a lot of locals just need a place to eat. So the candy maker became a cafe owner, serving hot lunches.

PIERRE CHARBONNET, CUSTOMER: She's local. She's trying to get her business back. So -- and I live here and I want to see her get it back, so we come and support her and it's good. It's real good.

ROESGEN: By being flexible, Loretta Harrison has been able to keep her business and part of New Orleans food culture alive. And if she were to meet the president again, she'd offer him a praline and a piece of her mind.

HARRISON: If you just continue to tell us what's going to happen, that's one thing. But when the revenue and the money coming to do it, that's another thing. That's what we need to see. We need to see the monies come in so that the people can decide what they want to do.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROESGEN: This is Loretta Harrison's 26th year in business, Miles, and she does not intend for it to be her last.

MILES O'BRIEN: How is Loretta's house, Susan?

ROESGEN: That's a question everybody asks in New Orleans, how's your house? Her house was destroyed by the hurricane, as were the homes of eight of her brothers and sisters and her mother. Some of her brothers and sisters live above the shop, they live in this area. They're all back in New Orleans. They're all trying to make a go of it again.

MILES O'BRIEN: Susan Roesgen, New Orleans, thank you very much.

Another positive step to tell you about in the recovery process for New Orleans. Tonight the New Orleans Arena plays host to the first pro sporting event in the city since Hurricane Katrina. It will be the first real home game of the season for the NBA's New Orleans Hornets as they take on the L.A. Lakers. They've been forced to play in Oklahoma City since Katrina damaged the arena. Welcome home, guys. Let's hope for a win tonight.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Yes, that would be nice.

MILES O'BRIEN: Just being there is a win, right?

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Yes.

MILES O'BRIEN: Yes.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Would that be a nice way to kind of kick it off.

Let's tell you about this story out of California. It's really a follow-up. A sheriff's deputy in California expected to surrender to police today facing charges in the shooting of an unarmed Iraq War veteran. You might remember all of it was caught on tape. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, I'm going to get up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: That was Air Force Security Officer Elio Carrion being told to get up. And then when he tries to comply, he's shot three times. Carrion survived. He's recovering. The police officer now is facing attempted voluntary manslaughter charges. This morning we're talking to the San Bernardino District Attorney Michael Ramos.

Nice to talk to you. Thank you very much for being with us.

MICHAEL RAMOS, SAN BERNARDINO DISTRICT ATTORNEY: Good morning. Thank you for having me.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: It's our pleasure.

I understand that you've been looking at this tape very closely and really an enhanced version of the tape. What does the enhanced version show that we're not able to see is?

RAMOS: Well, as you can see, it's very dark and grainy and we were able to work, along with the FBI, and they were able to clarify that. But even more important than that is the audio portion of the videotape. We were able to really bring out the audio regarding the various individuals, whether it was the deputy involved or Mr. Carrion, or even the driver, and just to make sure what we heard and what you heard on national TV is what's on the video.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: We thought we heard was the deputy saying "get up. Get up." And when Mr. Carrion tries to get up, he's shot three times. Is that, at the end of the day, what you heard?

RAMOS: That's at the end of the day what we heard but we want to make sure. You know any time we're going to prosecute an individual, I don't care who it is, and especially a law enforcement officer, we want to make sure that we have the right facts before we proceed down, you know, in filing charges and that's what we heard, "get up."

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: The charges, attempted voluntary manslaughter. Can you explain what that means?

RAMOS: That's right. Sure. Attempted voluntary manslaughter is that Deputy Webb used his gun, as you know, and he intended to kill him. But he intended to kill him and he felt what he was doing was reasonable. But there's that element that says, in reality, it was unreasonable that a normal peace officer in that situation would not of acted like Deputy Webb and would not have fired his weapon in those circumstances.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: As well know the family members say, OK, given exactly that, what you've just explained, why aren't you going with the attempted murder charges? That's what they want to see.

RAMOS: Sure. And there's a difference. I mean with the attempted murder, and I can understand the family and their concern. If you just view the officer in the videotape and what he's doing when he fires his weapon, you could argue attempted murder. However, we looked at the totality of the circumstances. Prior to that there was a chase, a felony evading. A vehicle going almost a hundred miles an hour. The deputy got involved in the chase. And then there were other factors that you can't see on the video that occurred.

And all of those things came into the mind, we believe, of the deputy in this case, and he felt that he was in danger at the time. He wasn't sure who these people were. And so, therefore, we felt instead of attempted murder, when you look at all of the facts, the ethical charge would be to file an attempted voluntary manslaughter. And that's a serious charge. You're talking about a deputy with no prior record. We filed a gun enhancement and great bodily injury enhancement and that's -- he's looking at 18 years and six months in prison.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Yes, that's a lot of time.

RAMOS: It is.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Let's talk about the driver because, of course, Mr. Carrion was actually the passenger in the car. What happens to the driver? As you mentioned, there was a chase, 100 miles an hour is what I've read some of the speeds in this chase.

RAMOS: Right. And we wanted to hold him responsible as well. We filed felony evading a peace officer charge, along with driving under the influence, and he will be looking at a little over three years in state prison because, as we all know, but for his actions and behavior, we wouldn't be here today.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Yes, but do you need him to testify? Do you need him to get on the stand and tell his side of the story?

RAMOS: You know, we would like that. We did a legal analysis and we really don't need his testimony because of other witnesses and other facts that we have. However, if he is going to testify, that would help the case as well. But we can proceed without him. But I think it's really important that he's held responsible as well.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Michael Ramos is the San Bernardino district attorney. Nice to talk to you. Thanks for being with us.

RAMOS: Thank you for having me this morning.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Our pleasure.

Miles.

MILES O'BRIEN: Another check of the weather. Chad Myers at the Weather Center.

Chad.

(WEATHER REPORT)

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Andy's "Minding Your Business" just ahead.

What have you got coming up?

ANDY SERWER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Soledad, Google seems to be stumbling and bumbling lately. How will these latest developments affect the stock? We'll let you know coming up on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: A lot of hotties have their birthday . . .

SERWER: Yes, I was going to say, it's all you.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Whoo.

SERWER: All for you.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: On March 8th is a good day for handsome men.

SERWER: For guys. Yes.

MILES O'BRIEN: And now you're surrounded by hotties.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Oh, yes. Moving on.

SERWER: That was pretty nice, actually.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Joking. Love, love, love, love.

Google.

MILES O'BRIEN: We're feeling it baby.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SERWER: Yes, you want to talk a little Google here.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Sure.

SERWER: You almost need a score card these days to keep track of this high-flyers gas. Just the other day . . .

MILES O'BRIEN: Gurgle, right?

SERWER: Yes, gurgle. They inadvertently posted sales data on the website. Had to tell the Securities and Exchange Commission, oops, they did it again. Now you remember the week before their chief financial officer said the business was slowing. She sort of wasn't supposed to say that. Was supposed to be a little more couched.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Yes.

SERWER: Also now they have posted compensation information on the web.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Oops. SERWER: That's number three.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: People hate that.

SERWER: Yes. And they really do.

And then -- although it's not personal stuff, it's sort of more globally, but, still, it's not right. And then this is the latest one, and this is very interesting stuff. Google has a plan to put all of your information from your hard drive on their website, if you want to. It's called the Golden Copy of all your internet information. This is a plan they have to roll out a new business. Again, they didn't want to do that. It was a mistake.

MILES O'BRIEN: Well, wait a minute. But that's a good service if you can back up your files, right?

SERWER: It would be a good service. They'd put your files, your e-mail, your web history, your pictures, bookmark . . .

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: But they wanted to (INAUDIBLE) . . .

SERWER: But they didn't want to tell people about that yet.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: They weren't ready to announce that one.

SERWER: They're weren't. And, you know, again . . .

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: And it makes you wonder, do I want to put all my hard drive information on their website?

SERWER: On a company that can't keep track of it because they're going to say, here's Miles' credit history, right?

MILES O'BRIEN: (INAUDIBLE) problem, didn't you.

SERWER: And it's really interesting, too, because this is a company that's notoriously tight-lipped. I mean for years they haven't given any information . . .

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Except lately.

SERWER: Except lately they're like a siv (ph). I mean I guess you would just chalk this up to . . .

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Making up for lost time, huh?

SERWER: Right. It's just kind of growing pains, I guess. And, you know, they've got the two young guys there, Sergey Brin who are running it, and also Eric Schmidt, who's a veteran executive as well. So they sort of know better. But, you know, they're the Google guys. Yes, they're both billionaires.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Many times over.

SERWER: Many times over. The stock, by the way, reacting to all this. You can see, there is the peak at about 475. It's now down to about 360, which is still stratospheric.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Yes.

SERWER: But it's down in pre-market trading and should be off a little bit this morning.

MILES O'BRIEN: So are we in the position where we're going to have to give you cupcakes soon as this goes down?

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Clearly. What are we doing, 350?

MILES O'BRIEN: Show me the cupcakes.

SERWER: Coffee cake. Cupcake.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Three hundred.

SERWER: Any kind of cake.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: All right.

SERWER: Yes, 300.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: OK, 300.

SERWER: We'll see what -- it may never get there. It may go back up.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: It's not -- since we don't own any of it, it really doesn't matter.

MILES O'BRIEN: It's all just a mood issue for us.

SERWER: Play money.

MILES O'BRIEN: Yes.

Republican Tom DeLay scored a big victory yesterday. Lots of Democrats -- get this. Now listen to this. Democrats are happy about this. You know, it's the good villain theory, right? We'll explain next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KRISTI YAMAOKA: I don't know how many times I've hit that stunt perfectly and no one really cares until you hit the ground.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Remember this young lady? Oh, she took quite a tumble, refused to quit. Even when she's strapped to the gurney, she's cheering for the team to send the message that she's OK, she needs them to win. We're going to hear about her story in her own words coming up in just a moment.

MILES O'BRIEN: Go Kristi. Go Kristi.

SERWER: She's a Saluki (ph), right? A Saluki.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: She's a Saluki.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MILES O'BRIEN: The Missouri Valley Athletic Conference is banning some cheerleading routines after a stunt that went wrong at a basketball tournament Sunday. You've seen the tape by now but we'll show it to you one more time. I'm kind of glad it's not that close, actually.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Oh, look at that fall.

MILES O'BRIEN: She's falling down. There is no cushion on the hardwood there. Kristi Yamaoka falling 15 feet. She was at the top of the pyramid. She landed right on her head. Think of what could have happened here, folks. We're talking about life-changing injuries or maybe even the end of life there. Instead, she cheered her way off. The pep band was doing the fight song and she did the cheer. I mean, really.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: I love this girl so much.

MILES O'BRIEN: This girl is something. Let's listen to what she had to say about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KRISTI YAMAOKA, SOUTHERN ILLINOIS U. CHEERLEADER: I'm supposed to flip forward off of the stunt and I didn't make it quite all the way up in order to get my balance and so I knew I was probably not going to be able to roll forward. So that's basically when I knew that it wasn't going to work out as well as I'd planned.

I don't know how many times I've hit that stunt perfectly and no one really cares until you hit the ground. So, you know, I just want everyone to know that usually our stunts hit and, you know, although there is some danger to cheerleading, that's a risk that cheerleaders are willing to take because we love doing it. The dangers to cheerleading, you know, are obvious and we just need to make sure that there's enough spots all over to catch girls and make sure that everything's going to be as safe as possible.

Well, I've had phone calls like you wouldn't even believe from friends that I haven't talked to in years. And they've been calling all of my family members and even a lot of my friends to check on me, make sure I'm OK and just basically give me their support and it's been absolutely amazing.

I was aware that I was doing it, but every time we hear that fight song, and they play it over and over at all of the games, we -- you know, our coach has us dance because it helps keep the crowd going and it gets everyone motivated to support SIU. So as soon as I heard it, I figured the rest of my squad was probably doing the fight song and I'm still part of the squad, so I had to do my thing.

I'm hoping that I'll be out of this neck brace in time to try out again and, hopefully, you know, make the squad and be able to cheer again for the Salukis (ph) next year.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MILES O'BRIEN: All right, I don't want to rain on her parade, because she's amazing. Let's put that aside. She's wonderful. Her smile's great. But these cheers and the cheerleading stunts have gotten out of hand.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Spoken as a father of a teenage girl.

MILES O'BRIEN: Yes, I'm watching this as a dad now and I've got to tell you, they do these high pyramids and they're doing all these tumbles on a hard floor.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: What, they're athletes.

MILES O'BRIEN: Put out a mat. Put out a mat. It's still wonder -- you know, give them a little bit of a safety net there. Yes, she understands the risk, but the consequences are tremendous. And there are many young men and women in wheelchairs as a result of these stunts. So I just think, you know, is it necessary is the question I have to ask.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: And will Connery ever be a cheerleader? No.

MILES O'BRIEN: Connery does whatever Connery wants to do, but daddy's not in favor, all right, for what that's worth.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: I hear you.

We're going to take a look at our top stories just ahead.

The Patriot Act is a step closer to renewal.

President Bush heads to the Gulf Coast as well. We've got that for you.

Congressman Tom DeLay scores a big primary victory.

Andrew Fastow takes the stand again today in the Enron trial.

And damaging new details of Barry Bonds alleged steroid use. There's a book that claims to prove that Bonds was juiced.

All those stories ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Good morning. I'm Soledad O'Brien. MILES O'BRIEN: And I'm Miles O'Brien.

Angry demonstrators taking to the streets in India this morning. This in response to bombings of sacred holy sites there.

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