Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

Senate Judiciary Committee Discussing Possible Censure Over President's Wiretapping Program; What Lies Ahead for Jill Carroll?

Aired March 31, 2006 - 09:31   ET

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

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Debating discipline for the president. The Senate Judiciary Committee is sitting down right now to discuss a possible censure over the president's domestic wiretapping program. Take a look some live pictures here as they get ready to do just that. It will be a Watergate era heavyweight that has the committee's collective ear.
CNN's Andrea Koppel live for us this morning on Capitol Hill with more on that.

Good morning, Andrea.

ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Miles.

That's right. Among the witnesses expected to testify today is John Dean, the former White House counsel to then-President Richard Nixon. On the agenda, a move, a resolution that was first introduced earlier this month by Democratic Senator Russell Feingold of Wisconsin to censure President Bush. Now a censure is a formal statement of disapproval. Russell Feingold claiming that President Bush broke the law then he authorized warrantless wiretaps of Americans suspected of having ties to terrorists.

Now, it's something that Republicans have fired back with, saying that this is absolutely not the case. That President Bush had the authority because we're in a time of war, and also some claiming that because Russell Feingold is himself considering perhaps a run for the presidency in 2008 that this is posturing ahead of that, a way for him to garner support from liberal Democrats.

Now, as things stand right now, Miles, they're really only two Democrats who have sided with Russell Feingold to cosponsor this resolution, Tom Harkin of Iowa and Barbara Boxer of California -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: OK. That's a pretty small group there. Give me a sense now if there's going to be any growing support? Is there kind after well spring of support for this thing?

KOPPEL: We don't know. I mean, at the moment those are the only two Democrats who signed on. In fact, for the most part the Democratic leader Harry Reid, in the Senate. And over in the House, the minority leader, have distanced themselves from this move. They have not spoken out against it, but they also haven't spoken out in favor of it. But depending upon what we hear at this morning's hearing, that might sway a few votes -- Miles. M. O'BRIEN: Andrea Koppel on Capitol Hill. Thank you -- Soledad.

KOPPEL: It is unclear when Jill Carroll will be headed back to the United States. We're learning more details, though, about her time in captivity. In this videotape that aired on Thursday, Jill spoke about her captors.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JILL CARROLL, FREED HOSTAGE: All I can say right now is that I'm just happy to be free. I was treated very well. It's important people know that, that I was not harmed. They never said they would hit me. Never threatened me in any way. And I'm just happy to be free. I want to be with my family.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

S. O'BRIEN: In that videotape, Jill appears very calm, in control. So what lies ahead for her as she tries to recover from her ordeal. Dr. Paul Ragan is a psychiatrist from Vanderbilt University in Nashville.

Nice to see you, doctor. Thanks for talking with us this morning.

DR. PAUL RAGAN, PSYCHIATRIST: Good morning, Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Are you surprised by her, I thought, incredible composure in that interview to the point where her microphone fell off she sort of just grabbed it and continued on without missing a beat.

RAGAN: Yes, I think she was very composed, and I think this is a very resilient young lady. But I was very struck by how docile, almost child-like she seemed. I thought that the phraseology of they never said they would hit me. I thought that was a little odd, a little artificial.

S. O'BRIEN: So what does that signal to you? It's obviously standing out as odd to you. What do you think it means?

RAGAN: Well, I think that it's possible that she just was being very composed, because she was so fearful for her life, and she knew that she probably guessed that this would become kind of a propaganda event for her captors, that she was more valuable to them being released and being seen receiving the Koran and things, that she was just saying something that she had been told to say.

S. O'BRIEN: We are learning more details, I should jump in and add, about the interview, and apparently she was told it was only going to air internally. It was being made for the Iraqi politicians, which I think is significant.

RAGAN: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: And also at that time that she is giving this interview she is actually not in, you know, U.S. forces hands.

RAGAN: Correct.

S. O'BRIEN: She's in the office of an Iraqi politician. Does that mean you discount, essentially, what she's saying, or do you...

RAGAN: Well, I mean, obviously, there's an enormous duress. I also remember she also was wearing the scarf. She was wearing, you know, traditional Islamic prescribed garb for women. She looked, really, in some ways like an Arabic woman. So yes, I think she was, as you point out, Soledad, very much still under the control and influence.

I think another issue is the possibility of Stockholm.

S. O'BRIEN: I was going to ask you that, because you're sort of saying one possibility is, hey, she's smart enough to know that until she is home with her family, she is not safe, and she's going to say whatever it takes to get her home safely, or two, Stockholm Syndrome. For those that do not know what it is, describe briefly if you can.

RAGAN: It happened when in 1973 a bank robbery, people were entombed in a vault for five-and-a-half days. And very curiously, when they came out, the captives were very bonded to their captors to the point that they defended them, helped raise money for their defense and those sorts of things.

So it occurs when you're under the -- not necessarily the influence, but when you're totally in the control of, you're cut off from outside, you're totally -- can't escape. And what's very important is your captors indicate to you that they can kill you. Remember, Jill's translator was killed on the day of capture. So she was very terrified of these people.

S. O'BRIEN: Do you think that she could have Stockholm Syndrome?

RAGAN: Absolutely. In the original, it was five-and-a-half days. She was captured for 82 days. I was very struck in her interview how she said she didn't know anything. The windows were closed. She only saw, I think, a television one time. She was really cut off from the outside. And I think it's a survival mechanism, where it's very hard to consider that your captors can annihilate you, can kill you on any particular day. So they show they're a little nice to you, you're very scared, you're very dependent psychologically on them, that you then do want to believe that they can be nice to you. You want to believe that you can survive. You want to believe that you can form a bond, and that's what I think she did. I think we have to remember, also, that she, for example, speaks Arabic. And I think by the garb and speaking Arabic, she became -- probably the captors may have become attached to her on some level.

S. O'BRIEN: I think she is going to be so fascinating to hear in her own words when she's back safely with her family about her experiences. Psychiatrist Paul Ragan, thanks for talking with us this morning.

RAGAN: Thank you, Soledad. Have a good day.

S. O'BRIEN: Thanks. You, too -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: What's the best business going right now in San Francisco Bay? It just may be selling raincoats, galoshes, umbrellas. Twenty-five days of rain this month in the Bay Area. That is a record. Teresa Garcia of our affiliate KGO is in Santa Cruz County this morning.

How is it looking there this morning, Teresa?

TERESA GARCIA, KGO REPORTER: Well, good morning.

We have a little bit of a lull between storms right now. You can see traffic moving behind me. It's a bit misty up here in the mountains. Certainly a lot of moisture. I can tell you, as a California native, a lot of this is saying it is completely atypical. We normally don't get this much rain, and a lot of us are actually pretty sick of it.

Clearer picture here: Take a look at San Francisco, had a record breaking total of 25 days, including today, 25 days of rain. Now that shatters the March 1904 record, mind you 102 years ago, where they had 23 days of rain. And it's not the only city. All around the Bay Area, we have had quite a bit. A lot of the cars struggling to get through some flooded roadways as well. Police monitoring many, many roadways, for public safety has been a big concern.

Also the saturated soil. We take a look at the pictures in Sausalito, a $3.5 million home on the hillside had extended some of its landscaping, so a little bit questionable issues there, but also the saturated soil cause add tree and part after deck to tumble down into an apartment building below they're. They are still monitoring that situation and have a lot of cleanup ahead. Now no one was injured there.

But here in the Santa Cruz Mountains, we've also had a lot of saturated soil. A few slides here and there. Luckily, at this point, no one hurt, no homes damaged, but many people are on standby watching out what could happen, because our weather forecast show we have a lot more rain on the way. Specifically where I am, up in the Santa Cruz mountains, we could get another 1.5 inches overnight. So the potential for more mudslides is definitely very apparent up here. And with the forecast, we also have a lot more rain on the way. So not quite a break, not just yet. California feeling pretty wet out here.

M. O'BRIEN: All right, Teresa Garcia with our affiliate KGO.

(WEATHER REPORT)

M. O'BRIEN: Naomi Campbell, supermodel extraordinaire, doing that excellent catwalk there.

SERWER: With a poncho.

M. O'BRIEN: What does one wear with the silver bracelets. SERWER: A mink poncho.

(CROSSTALK)

S. O'BRIEN: She didn't throw a cell phone right, she threw a...

M. O'BRIEN: Well, a BlackBerry cell phone.

S. O'BRIEN: A crystal-studded BlackBerry, right?

M. O'BRIEN: Right, but I think it had the cell phone in it.

SERWER: The capability.

(CROSSTALK)

S. O'BRIEN: It's so much bigger. A BlackBerry, that could really...

M. O'BRIEN: Especially with the encrusted with jewels.

S. O'BRIEN: Right, that'd hurt.

M. O'BRIEN: Check out the tabs here, loving this. "Fashion Bashin'."

S. O'BRIEN: This one says "Crazed."

M. O'BRIEN "Crazed," across -- on the other side of the pond, it's the same story.

(CROSSTALK)

M. O'BRIEN: Pretty lame. But she is, of course, a Brit.

SERWER: A supermodel is what she is.

M. O'BRIEN: A supermodel.

We have a super reporter on this, Mallika Kapur live in London telling us about it.

Hello, Mallika.

MALLIKA KAPUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Miles.

Let me tell you about how this is playing out here in Britain. Let's look at the newspapers and tabloids. Right here on the front page of one of the most widely read tabloids, "The Daily Mirror," saying "Naomi Nicked." Now of course this story is appearing in several newspapers and tabloids in Britain, one several British Web sites as well. Some of the headlines I've seen have called her a bruiser, saying Naomi the bruiser. Some other ones saying Naomi not quite model behavior. So it's quite clear that the British tabloids here, the press here, does have quite a robust interest in Naomi, because they consider her one of theirs. She was born here in London, raised in London, discovered in Covengarden (ph), which is just a few blocks from where we are at the moment.

And really, for the British public, though, the reaction today was very many, Naomi, not again, because the public have seen her go down the route before. It's not the first time she had a brush with the law. Back in 2000, she pleaded guilty for hitting another assistant with a cell phone. And she was cleared of those charges but, again, in 2004 another assistant complained she hit her with another gadget. And also that she bit her. So you know, there have been a stream of complaints by her staff against assaults from Naomi. So the British press here usually isn't surprised when Naomi hits the headlines for the wrong reasons.

M. O'BRIEN: Now, Mallika, you mention the British press. There is a little bit of bad blood there, imagine that.

S. O'BRIEN: A little bit -- like this much.

M. O'BRIEN: "The Daily Mirror" and Naomi have had their parting of the ways, you might say.

KAPUR: They certainly have. I mean, there's a lot of bad blood between "The Daily Mirror" and Naomi. Let me tell you why. This is because back in 2004 this very tabloid printed a photograph of Naomi Campbell leaving Narcotic Anonymous where she was apparently getting treatment for drug addiction. So Naomi filed a libel case against them for invading her privacy. She won the case, but the newspaper is still paying legal costs to the tune of more than a million pounds, you know, several millions of dollars. So it's really no surprise the newspaper doesn't miss another opportunity, any opportunity to knock Naomi down.

M. O'BRIEN: All right, Mallika Kapur, thank you very much. And now we know the answer to the trivia question, what do Mike Tyson, Danny Ainge and Naomi Campbell have in common?

S. O'BRIEN: I know! I know. I'll take famous fighters for 200.

Oh, lordy, all right. You know, some bad news for Matt Leblanc, friends but not lovers I guess they're saying today. The former "Friends" star has now filed for divorce from his model wife. They've been married for just for three years. They're citing irreconcilable differences, say they're going to remain friends. They're also asking for privacy. His professional life not faring so well either. His show "Joey" pulled again from NBC's schedule, and this time around it might not actually return. So he's kind of having a little bit of a rough go.

SERWER: He probably thought she wasn't smart enough for him. Nevermind.

M. O'BRIEN: I think that's an act, isn't it?

SERWER: I don't know. I don't know.

M. O'BRIEN: I wouldn't know.

But after three years, you're just coming back from the honeymoon after three years.

SERWER: Practically newlyweds.

S. O'BRIEN: In some cases, it's a really long, unpleasant, unhappy honeymoon and it's time to move on. That's too bad there.

(MARKET REPORT)

M. O'BRIEN: All right, CNN LIVE TODAY is coming up next. Daryn, what are you working on this morning?

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: As always, a lot of great stories. Miles, good morning to you.

It was one of the most controversial films of the '90s. There was that unforgettable scene with Sharon Stone at the police station. You know what we're talking. Now the buzz surrounding "Basic Instinct 2." Will it raise as many eyebrows? Mr. Moviefone gives us his take.

And he lost his home to Katrina, but not his musical spirit. Fats Domino, one of the headliners at this year's New Orleans jazz fest. Big stars, big fun, big money in the Big Easy. What to expect from this year's festival after so much has changed.

That and more coming your way over the next couple hours on CNN LIVE TODAY. We'll see you in a bit.

M. O'BRIEN: Thank you, Daryn. Coming up in "A.M. Pop," Sharon Stone. We're going to keep talking about that one. She set the bar pretty high.

S. O'BRIEN: It's a talker.

M. O'BRIEN: It is a talker, isn't it? The bar was set high.

S. O'BRIEN: She looks good.

M. O'BRIEN: She does look good.

S. O'BRIEN: I don't know how the movie, but she looks...

M. O'BRIEN: One of the newspapers here misprint her age at 77. That's not true.

S. O'BRIEN: She looks great for 77, but she looks good for 47, which I think is the real age.

M. O'BRIEN: Anyway, it's a tough act to follow. Fourteen years later, who can forget that movie and that scene? You know, the famous -- well, there you...

(CROSSTALK)

M. O'BRIEN: I think that is it right there. We'll have more on that in a minute.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: After 14 years, Sharon Stone is taking it off again on the big screen, and she and producers are keeping their fingers, and their legs, crossed, hoping audiences are still going to have that "Basic Instinct."

Sibila Vargas gets the bare facts for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHARON STONE, ACTRESS: Do I make you uncomfortable?

SIBILA VARGAS, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Fourteen years after Sharon Stone made more than a few people uncomfortable with her scandalous leg-crossing scene in "Basic Instinct"...

STONE: It's nice.

VARGAS: The actress is hoping you'll find her hotter than ever as the psychopathic seductress Catherine Tramell in "Basic Instinct 2."

STONE: Oh, is this where we're going to do it?

VARGAS: And with more than a decade since Stone's show stopping moment, the question is are fans ready for round two?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is she going to cross her legs or uncross her legs? That's really the big question.

VARGAS: Are you curious to see that leg-crossing scene, or...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's all right. I think I'll pass.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She's like 60, 70, now, so a little past my age range.

VARGAS: Well, for the record, Stone is actually 48 years old.

STONE: This is what the 40s look like and it ain't so bad.

VARGAS: "Newsweek"'s Sean Smith told me Stone's cinematic follow-up comes with a history as dramatic as the movie itself.

STONE: How do you picture it, Doctor?

VARGAS: In 2001, the actress sued the producers because they had failed to make the sequel by an established deadline.

SEAN SMITH, SENIOR WRITER, "NEWSWEEK": She sued them for $100 million, saying in addition to the money that she wasn't paid that she had gotten in shape and had gone to costume fittings and had turned down other roles, and so she had lost all this potential income.

VARGAS: Ultimately, they settled out of court, but not before a handful of leading men like Viggo Mortensen had turned the role down.

SMITH: Aaron Eckhart was offered $6 million and still didn't want to do it. The studio wanted Benjamin Bratt, but Sharon was concerned that he was too young and that he would make her look too old.

VARGAS: Early reviews have panned the sequel and Smith jokingly refers to Stone's performance as being "so over the top that it elevates the bad movie in a must-see diva extravaganza."

SMITH: She makes "Mommie Dearest" look small. At 48, to look like that and move like that and to act like that is pretty remarkable.

VARGAS: Of course, for skeptics who think otherwise, there's always this alternative.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Want to see sexy? All right? Uh oh.

VARGAS: Sibila Vargas, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

M. O'BRIEN: OK, he's no Sharon Stone, all right?

S. O'BRIEN: That was definitely uh-oh. "Basic Instinct 2" opens today. Are you going to see it?

M. O'BRIEN: Opens wide, shall we say. Back with more in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com