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American Morning

Immigration Battle Hits Senate Floor; Closing Arguments Today in Moussaoui Death Penalty Trial; Rape Investigation

Aired March 29, 2006 - 08:59   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. I'm Miles O'Brien.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Carol Costello, in for Soledad.

O'BRIEN: A wild party and allegations of rape. Now one of the college's most powerful teams at Duke is sidelined for the season.

COSTELLO: The immigration battle hits the Senate floor today just as the president takes the issue south of the border.

O'BRIEN: Forget about Andy Card, forget about the new chief of staff. Is Laura Bush really the power player behind the president? That is, when it comes to making changes in the West Wing.

COSTELLO: Also, a boy tries to save his best friend and ends up needing to be saved himself. The daring rescue caught on tape.

Plus, lost and found. More than a million dollars in jewels left behind on a park bench. What would you do? That's coming up on AMERICAN MORNING.

O'BRIEN: On Capitol Hill, the immigration debate on the front burner. And it's about to boil over.

CNN Congressional Correspondent Dana Bash joining us live from the Capitol with more.

Good morning, Dana.

DANA BASH, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Miles.

And we expect that debate to start later today. And what it does, it will be the split among Republicans over what to do about the estimated 11 to 12 illegal immigrants -- 11 to 12 million, I should say, illegal immigrants in this country that will be on full display.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BASH (voice over): On one side, Republicans who say illegal immigrants broke the law get taxpayer benefits without paying taxes, and allowing them to stay sends exactly the wrong message.

SEN. GEORGE ALLEN (R), VIRGINIA: I think if you reward illegal behavior you'll get more illegal behavior.

BASH: Prosecute, this hard-line GOP camp says, and tighten America's borders, even with a wall if necessary.

Then the other side of the Republican immigration divide, including the president, those who say illegal workers should be able to stay in the U.S. legally because they're doing jobs Americans won't do.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: We have to recognize that for several generations, people have made America home, and we've accepted the benefit of their labor.

BASH: But, like anything in politics, there are shades of gray. Senator John Cornyn is a Texas Republican searching for a middle ground. He says illegal immigrants should be able to work in the U.S. legally but only if they return to their country of origin first.

(on camera): How worried are you about the deep divide within your own party over this issue?

SEN. JOHN CORNYN (R), TEXAS: I really am not worried about it. I think it's actually healthy.

BASH: You think it's healthy?

CORNYN: I do think it's healthy.

BASH: In an election year it's healthy for the Republicans to be divided?

CORNYN: Well, you know, that's the problem in America, we're always having elections.

BASH (voice over): One irony is that many conservatives fiercely oppose a new guest worker program because they felt burned on the issue by their hero, Ronald Reagan. Twenty years ago, he signed amnesty for some illegal workers. That didn't stop the flow of more illegal immigrants. And conservatives cringe that some Republicans are lined with their nemesis, Massachusetts Democrat Ted Kennedy.

SEN. EDWARD KENNEDY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: The president deserves credit for talking about these issues. He comes from a border state, so he understands them.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BASH: And just the way the Senate is expected to take up this issue really underscores the divisions in the Republican Party. On the one hand, they're going to be debating a measure by the senator majority leader, Bill Frist, which just deals with the border security issue. And they're also going to be dealing with something that the Judiciary passed which does deal with a guest worker program. It allows illegal immigrants to work legally in the U.S. and even go on a path to citizenship.

Miles, this is one to watch. Nobody knows how it's going to turn out.

O'BRIEN: Interesting. It will be interesting doings there.

And while we're focusing on Capitol Hill, the president heads across that very border to meet with Vicente Fox and the Canadian prime minister. Interesting timing here.

BASH: It certainly is interesting timing, especially since this issue, immigration, obviously is going to be on the front burner at the summit. But this issue has also been a point of contention between the Mexican president and the U.S. president because Vicente Fox has been pushing the U.S. to deal with illegal immigrants, particularly from his country, in the United States for years.

Certainly, he is happy that this is going to be taken up. But certainly he has wanted this to happen for some time.

Again, unclear what exactly the outcome will be. But one thing that Vicente Fox will probably be happy about is that President Bush, in an interview with CNN en Espanol, said that he doesn't necessarily think a wall between the two countries is a good idea. But you can be sure that the two are going to talk about one major issue that all Republicans say is crucial, and that is border security between the two countries -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Dana Bash on Capitol Hill.

Thank you very much.

Along with the three heads of state in Mexico for the immigration summit, our own Lou Dobbs crossing the border in pursuit of answers. A "Broken Borders" special report on "LOU DOBBS TONIGHT," live from Mexico, 6:00 p.m. Eastern Time -- Carol.

COSTELLO: In a CNN "Security Watch, life or death. That's the decision a jury will soon have to make about the only person charged in the United States in the 9/11 attacks. Closing arguments set to begin today in the death penalty trial of Zacarias Moussaoui.

CNN Justice Correspondent Kelli Arena joins us live now with more.

Good morning, Kelli.

KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

You know, after all the craziness in this trial, jurors will finally have to decide whether Zacarias Moussaoui is even eligible for the death penalty. Now, first, they'll hear the closing arguments you spoke about. Each side will get one hour to sum up its case, then deliberations will start soon after that.

The key question on the verdict form reads as follows: "Do you, the jury, unanimously find that the government has established beyond a reasonable doubt that victims died on September 11th as a direct result of Moussaoui's lies to federal agents?"

You know, it turns out that the best witness for the prosecution was Moussaoui himself. He told jurors that he lied to keep the 9/11 plot on track. He said that he knew the targets included the World Trade Center, and he said that he was supposed to be part of the attacks by piloting a fifth plane into the White House. And that all directly contradicted statements that he's made in the past about being part of a separate follow-on mission -- Carol.

COSTELLO: So we know that Moussaoui wanted to take the stand, like forced his defense team, you know, to -- I guess not allow him to take the stand, but he took the stand because he wanted to. But he offered -- he also offered to testify against himself before the trial began.

Tell us more about that.

ARENA: Well, you're right. I mean, the defense did all it could besides stand on its head to get him not to go on that stand. But he did. And as you said, it was revealed in court that he wanted to testify against himself as a witness for the prosecution.

That was in exchange for better prison conditions. Now, it's a deal that obviously fell through when he found out that he did have the right to take the stand for himself.

COSTELLO: Interesting.

Kelli Arena covering the trial for us in Washington, D.C.

Stay tuned to CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security.

Some more news this morning. Let's head to the newsroom now to check in with Kelly.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning again, Carol.

Hello, everyone.

Warlord Charles Taylor heading back to Liberia. He'll be taken into U.N. custody to face war crimes charges. Taylor, as you might know, had been living in exile in Nigeria but was caught earlier today trying to cross the border in to Cameroon.

President Obasanjo of Nigeria is in Washington this morning. We're expecting him to make a statement about the capture. He'll be meeting with President Bush in the next hour.

A grim discovery to tell you about at Ground Zero here in New York City. Construction workers found human bones on the roof of the former Deutsche Bank building near the World Trade Center. The city medical examiner will be conducting DNA tests to determine whether the bones are from September 11 victims. Test results are not expected for several months.

A major mess in paradise. More than 10 million gallons of raw sewage spilling over a canal in Honolulu, Hawaii. That spill occurred when a major sewer line split open due to heavy rain. City crews are working round the clock to repair the break. They're also checking beaches for high bacteria levels.

There is word that Randy McCloy is heading home. He's the sole survivor of the Sago Mine disaster.

McCloy has been undergoing intensive rehabilitation for nine weeks. Doctors describing his recovery as "miraculous." A news conference is expected tomorrow. His wife says McCloy might appear. If so, it would be his first public appearance since that disaster.

And talk about a good deed. A San Francisco man found a purse on a park bench. He returned it, even though it contained a million dollars in cash and jewelry.

John Sirhoff (ph) says he never even considered keeping the bag. And the purse belonged to a Canadian couple in town for their daughter's wedding.

Miles and Carol, you don't know how many other people out there would do what John did.

O'BRIEN: We don't know. We've been discussing this dilemma.

WALLACE: Dilemma. Would they keep the cash and jewels?

O'BRIEN: You would be hexed forever. You would be hexed.

COSTELLO: You know, the purse itself was worth something, too, because that was a Louis Vuitton.

WALLACE: Yes.

O'BRIEN: Or it could have been a knockoff from Canal Street. You don't know.

COSTELLO: True.

O'BRIEN: Time for the forecast.

Chad Myers, what would you do? Would you give the money back or would you do that possession is nine-tenths of the law thing.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I'm kind of thinking, what are you going do with a million dollars? You're from Canada. How did you get it over here in the first place? And, boy, that's going to be a heck of a wedding.

O'BRIEN: Yes.

MYERS: I hope it was on a big ship. I'd give it back, of course. At least some of it.

(WEATHER REPORT)

O'BRIEN: All right.

Let's go back to that daring rescue now. Shall we, Chad? MYERS: Yes.

O'BRIEN: The boy, the dog and the cliff.

MYERS: The dog.

O'BRIEN: The story of the boy, the dog, and the cliff, and the nationwide attention in Canada.

There's the dog wagging his tail. It's OK. It's OK. You know, it's like he's consoling him, practically.

The dog went down, he went down after the dog, of course, as any boy would do, right? Try to get your dog back. But, of course, he got stuck himself, as you can see. It was kind of a mossy precipice there.

I don't know, has it been wet in Vancouver?

MYERS: Oh, absolutely.

O'BRIEN: There you have it.

MYERS: Very wet.

O'BRIEN: Right?

MYERS: Yes.

O'BRIEN: So he just couldn't get back up. So all of this with TV helicopters hovering overhead. In comes the rescue team.

A firefighter lowers down. And Lassie and the boy come home. We've been saying Lassie all along. It's not Lassie, of course. But...

COSTELLO: Because Lassie would have rescued the boy.

O'BRIEN: Yes.

MYERS: And the dog's name was Slick.

(LAUGHTER)

O'BRIEN: Stuck on the mossy knoll there.

All right. Coming up, we're going to go live to Los Angeles, where the debate over immigration reform, well, there you see it right there. In the streets it is hot, people are angry there.

We're going to talk to the city's archbishop. He says he's going to encourage his priest to break the law if certain types of laws are passed. We'll ask Cardinal Mahony about that.

COSTELLO: Also, one writer's open letter to the first lady, Laura Bush. And some advice on how Laura Bush can help her husband get his second term back on track.

Plus...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SIBILA VARGAS, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: It's a hot new drama that may be too hot for television.

I'm Sibila Vargas, and I'll tell you how the FCC has put a big chill on broadcast TV.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: This morning, Duke University's lacrosse season is over. It's due to a rape investigation that's tearing the campus and the community apart. The team has stood together in silence. Now they'll stand on the sidelines. But that's the least of their worries.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICHARD BROADHEAD, PRESIDENT, DUKE UNIVERSITY: I have decided that future games should be suspended until there is clear resolution of the legal situation.

COSTELLO (voice over): That declaration from Duke University's president follows an alleged gang rape of an exotic dancer by three members of the university's lacrosse team. The question, which ones? So far, team members have refused to answer questions.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We want the members of the Duke lacrosse team to come clean.

COSTELLO: The woman says she and a friend were hired to dance at a private bachelor party and she was pulled into a bathroom by three men, beaten, choked and raped. The woman is black. All but one member of the team is white.

It's bringing simmering racial tensions in the city of Durham to a boil, especially in the wake of a 911 call from someone who walked by the party.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I saw them all come out like a big frat house. And me and my black girlfriend are walking by and they called us (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

COSTELLO: Forty-six players have been swabbed for DNA, and Durham's district attorney is awaiting the lab results. He says he believes a rape did occur and that soon the students will start talking.

MIKE NIFONG, DURHAM DISTRICT ATTORNEY: My guess is that some of this stonewall of silence that we have seen may tend to crumble once charges begin to come out. COSTELLO: Last night, Duke's president said he, too, was determined to get answers.

BROADHEAD: Physical coercion and sexual assault are unacceptable in any setting and will not be tolerated at Duke.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Reporter Samiha Khanna is covering the Duke story for the "Raleigh News and Observer." She joins us now from Raleigh, North Carolina.

Welcome.

SAMIHA KHANNA, "THE NEWS & OBSERVER" Thank you.

COSTELLO: The alleged victim in this case, she's an exotic dancer. She is also a college student. She has a child. She's a single mother. She's doing this to make some money.

You sat down with her. What did she tell you happened?

KHANNA: She told me how she came to be at the party. She had been working for an agency for about two months. It sort of was the type of job that fit with her schedule, being a parent of two and a full-time student.

The night of the party, March 13t, she got a call about 8:30 in the evening and she was told to report to this address next to the Duke campus at about 11:30 that night. She was told that there would be one other person with her, another female dancer, and she...

COSTELLO: And there were only supposed to be like four or five guys at this bachelor party. But when they arrived, there's 40 to 50 people.

So she goes in, and apparently they start yelling racial slurs at her. Really nasty ones. And at one point she leaves the party but then she goes back in.

What happened at that point, according to her?

KHANNA: According to her, she was adamant about leaving. She and the other lady that she was with were very uncomfortable. And it's not quite clear as to why she was going back inside the house.

The police say that there was one gentleman who was leaning inside a car telling the women that they were sorry for their behavior, or sorry for whatever had happened inside, asked her to come back in. A neighbor that I've interviewed actually says he heard one of the women, possibly the victim, say she had left some of her belongings inside, I believe her shoes, and was maybe going inside to retrieve them. At that point, according to police statements, she was pulled into a bathroom and assaulted.

COSTELLO: OK. Let's talk about the police investigation, because supposedly the police didn't search this house, this frat house, so to speak, for two days. And that has outraged some in the community.

Also, the Duke University players allegedly involved in this on the lacrosse team are standing silent. They're not saying much. Why?

KHANNA: That's true. I did speak with the investigators. At the beginning of the investigation, they did say that the residents in the house, three team captains for the lacrosse team, were being very cooperative, were answering questions. And at some point that's changed.

You know, as it sort of escalated, as it got more attention, as the DNA tests were ordered of these players, people started to shush, shut down, be quiet a little bit, and sort of stand together. I don't know on whose advice...

COSTELLO: Well, are they -- are they saying anything untoward happened in that house? I mean, what are they telling police?

KHANNA: I don't know what they've told police since the initial investigation has begun other than what has already been released. I do know that the university has also made an inquiry, and this week announced that they have talked with the players, that the players acknowledge that there was a party going on, that they did use fake names to call an exotic dancer -- or two exotic dancers to the home, but they do not acknowledge, they deny that any sexual assault took place.

COSTELLO: Just one last question about the alleged victim in this case. Did she have injuries? I know she went to the hospital.

KHANNA: According to police documents and court documents that have been returned, as well as the district attorney, there were significant injuries indicative of rape. I haven't seen any of this evidence myself. I only know what is in the police documents. And I haven't actually had a chance yet to speak with the victim about her injuries in detail.

COSTELLO: Thank you so much for joining us this morning.

KHANNA: Thank you.

COSTELLO: Samiha Khanna with the "Raleigh News & Observer" -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Coming up on the program, more on the immigration battle raging across the country. We're going to check in with a radio deejay who helped organize this scene in Los Angeles. He has his own remarkable story to tell of how he got into the U.S. 20 years ago.

We'll talk to him. He's going to take a little break from his morning program for us ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) O'BRIEN: Take a look at that. That's Los Angeles over the weekend. And thousands of people taking to the streets expressing anger over some of the ideas being bandied about in Washington to harshly change immigration policy in this country.

One of the people who helped organize this, using his bully pulpit there, interestingly goes by the name of -- the handle of Tweety Bird.

Eddie Sotelo is a morning radio host, one of the highest-rated shows in Los Angeles, Spanish language. He joins us from Glendale.

Hey, thanks for taking a break, Eddie.

You're playing some commercials for us while we talk. I'm curious, as you have talked to people, as you've been hearing from people as they're calling in, this seems to be a real wellspring of anger that's out there.

EDDIE SOTELO, RADIO HOST: Good morning, Miles, to you and to everybody from CNN.

I just want to say that there is a lot of people, you know, who was doing a really great, great image on Saturday, last Saturday in downtown L.A. It was so great that there were no violence. And everybody was, you know, walking with a (INAUDIBLE) shirt. You know, everybody was carrying a USA flag at the same time.

Why? Because we want to demonstrate that we're not bad people. We're here because we love this beautiful country. This is a great opportunity. We are looking forward for the immigrants that were able to have papers.

Miles, there is a lot of people that they don't even see their own family. Why? Because they're not -- they're not able to come back their own country because they don't have papers.

They're illegal in the United States. Yes, we understand we crossed the border. But at the same time, we would like to have a chance to be legal in this beautiful country.

O'BRIEN: Well, let me ask you this, Eddie. Tell us your personal story. How did you get in to El Norte, as they say it? And how did you end up where you are?

SOTELO: Yes, I crossed the border in 1986. And I was running, you know, through the mountains of Tijuana and San Diego at the same time.

And then I was able to work for the first time. I was picking up cans and taking them to recycling to be able to receive money and be able to get -- to buy food, to pay my rent of a little room. It was like a garage where I used to live. And that was the first time.

And I remember a few times I got fired because I was illegal in the United States. And that make me feel so bad, and that's what a lot of people goes through. And we just came here to find a better life, because...

O'BRIEN: All right. Well, let me pose this question to you, though, for just a moment.

SOTELO: Yes?

O'BRIEN: We -- I think we can all agree this is a great -- a land of opportunity. It's wonderful that people to want to cross the border illegally to be here. And it's also -- I think we all appreciate the labor and the hard work and the industriousness of people like you who have come and made successes of yourself.

The question is, though, I think many Americans feel as if, because of the fact that they're labeled illegal, because they didn't come in a just way or fair way, the cost to Americans is higher than it should be. They're not paying their own way.

How do you answer that?

SOTELO: Let me tell you -- let me tell you, Miles, that there is a lot of people who came to United States and were not receiving any service from the government. For example, welfare.

There is a lot of people who is working. And plus, there is a lot of people who is not able to claim taxes because they don't have a Social Security number. And that money is on the government at the same time.

So everybody thinks that we're really bad, that we just came here. At the same time, you know, to drain -- to drain -- I'm sorry -- drain the economy of the United States. And we're not. I think we're working, and we're not using the service of the government like welfare.

O'BRIEN: All right. Radio host Eddie Sotelo. I know you've got to get back to your program. Thanks for spending a little bit of time with us today.

SOTELO: Thanks a lot, Miles.

O'BRIEN: Good luck out there.

SOTELO: Thank you.

O'BRIEN: The immigration debate will be front and center on "LOU DOBBS TONIGHT." Lou will be live from Mexico. "Broken Borders," a special report, "LOU DOBBS TONIGHT," 6:00 p.m. Eastern.

Back with more in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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