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American Morning
Tom DeLay Calling it Quits; Red River Rising; Too Much, Too Soon?
Aired April 04, 2006 - 06:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Controversial Congressman Tom DeLay drops a political bombshell. He's calling it quits. We're live from his hometown.
Students come to the rescue to try to stem the tide of a rising red river.
And outrage over a movie trailer. A new film about 9/11 has some saying it's just too soon.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Gosh, it's interesting, though. Already the first sort of first realistic look at what happened on 9/11 coming out. I wondered how long it would take for that to happen.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes. It's -- what is a decent interval for something as tragic as that? We're going to find out.
S. O'BRIEN: Gosh, for family members, some of them just heartbroken by it.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
S. O'BRIEN: We're going to talk about that later.
But first, this news, and it's news that really caught many people by surprise. Controversial Congressman Tom DeLay deciding now that he's had enough and he's ending his re-election bid, cleaning out his congressional office.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. TOM DELAY (R), TEXAS: The voters of the 22nd District of Texas deserve a campaign about the vital national issues that they care most about and that affect their lives every day, and not a campaign focused solely as a referendum on me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
S. O'BRIEN: Todd Duplantis of Houston affiliate KRIV is live for us this morning in DeLay's hometown of Sugar Land, Texas.
Hey, Todd. Good morning to you. What's the reaction been?
TODD DUPLANTIS, REPORTER, KRIV: Well, good morning. Of course, Tom DeLay scheduled to have a news conference here at his offices in Sugar Land later this morning. The reaction is varied across the city, across Sugar Land and across Houston. While the 22- year veteran of the political arena soundly won his -- won the Republican primary last month, it's suggested by polls that he could face an uphill battle against Nick Lampson, a battle for re-election.
Now, here in Texas, DeLay has spent a lot of time here, especially over the past few months, in Travis County, about 150 miles down the road. He faces indictment, accused of funneling illegal corporate contributions to state lawmakers.
So has this scandal hurt him? Here's what one person had to say overnight.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think that's probably a good thing. (INAUDIBLE) a lot of credibility, to be honest with you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Surprised?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I don't think so.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DUPLANTIS: So, what's next for Tom DeLay? We had a chance to speak with another person overnight who speculated on what could happen, especially with this election up in the air now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm pretty surprised. I figured he'd run, didn't know he would pull out. I'm not sure who his replacement will be, but it will be pretty interesting to see what happens after this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DUPLANTIS: Now, here in Texas, DeLay is known as "The Hammer." And of course The Hammer has been blunted over the past few months, especially with this indictment. DeLay told us just a few months ago that he would always fight as long as there was support. But it seems the groundswell has faded and DeLay is stepping down, expected to leave Houston later this morning.
Reporting live from Sugar Land, I'm Todd Duplantis.
S. O'BRIEN: All right, Todd. Thank you very much for that update.
Todd, of course, from our affiliate KRIV in Houston.
Other stories making news. Carol's got those in the newsroom.
Hey, Carol. Good morning again.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning.
Good morning to all of you.
Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen is asking for federal help after a series of deadly tornadoes. At least 23 were killed in the Sunday night storms. The governor plans to tour the devastation today. More than 1,000 buildings absolutely flattened. State police are enforcing a 7:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. curfew in the affected areas.
In France, they're saying it could be the biggest show of strength yet. Union workers and students have been taking to the streets. They're calling on the government to repeal a new jobs law that makes it easier to fire younger workers. Some 150 marches are planned across the country today. Thousands of police officers standing by.
Two Air Force panels looking into the crash of the military's largest cargo plane. The C-5 crumbled on a runway at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. All 17 people on board made it out safely. Former C-5 pilots say its sheer size may have prevented any deaths. The plane is the length of a football field.
And do you use Splenda to sweeten your coffee? Well, listen to this. A consumer advocacy group claims a chemical in Splenda may cause digestive problems and they're saying it should be pulled from the shelves. The group is calling on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to revoke its approval for the sugar substitute.
So we'll keep following that for you.
Back to you, Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Thank you very much, Carol.
Let's get the forecast out. Chad Myers has that.
Good morning, Chad.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Miles.
(WEATHER REPORT)
MYERS: Back to you guys.
M. O'BRIEN: All right, Chad Myers. Thank you very much.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes, they sure have had enough rain there.
Chad, thanks.
M. O'BRIEN: Coming up, it's the biggest mumps outbreak in almost 20 years, spreading across one college campus and beyond. Does the mumps vaccine still work?
S. O'BRIEN: Also this morning, much more on Congressman Tom DeLay's surprise resignation. We're going to talk to the reporter who broke the story and also take a look at what it means for Republicans in the midterm elections.
M. O'BRIEN: Plus, some theatres are pulling trailers for a movie about 9/11. The controversy over "United 93" next on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
M. O'BRIEN: Happening "In America" today, Connecticut, an investigation into a six-alarm fire at the 19th century home of Yale Locks (ph). No one injured in the Stamford, Connecticut, warehouse Monday. Two hundred evacuated while the building complex burned.
Three people are dead after a huge construction accident in downtown Boston. A three-ton scaffold came crashing down on pedestrians and motorists Monday. It had been set atop a 14-story dormitory owned by Emerson College. Local state and federal authorities investigating.
In North Carolina, support for the woman at the center of Duke University's rape scandal. The vigil attended by 250 students at North Carolina Central University where the woman attends school. Forty-six members of Duke's lacrosse team have given police samples of their DNA in that investigation.
S. O'BRIEN: Along the North Dakota-Minnesota border, all eyes are on the Red River this morning. The swollen river is rising fast. It's expected to crest some 20 feet above flood stage.
Tom Halden of affiliate KMSP is live for us this morning in Moorhead, Minnesota, which is right on the border with North Dakota.
Hey, Tom. Good morning to you. How's it looking?
TOM HALDEN, REPORTER, KMSP: Well, Soledad, it's not looking good. It depends on how you look at it.
The forecast high is 37.5 feet. They're sitting at 36.5 right now. The water is still rising.
We are literally in the Red River now. Normally it's at least 100 yards behind where we are, well behind those trees. I know it's a little bit hard to see this morning, that it's so dark. But normally there's a 100-yard buffer zone.
And the reason that people are so nervous is that this is where the water levels really started creeping up back in 1997, where there was a terrible flood. And many of the homes -- and there were homes sitting right here on this lot -- those were purchased by different emergency management agencies and removed. Well, now they're getting even more nervous because the water levels are coming up as they did back in 1997 and encroaching on these homes.
These homes really are supposed to be in the zone of safety, but you can see there are hundreds and thousands of sandbags just here. And that has really been the effort here in the Fargo and Moorhead area over the last 48 hours. In fact, they used 300 or 400 high school students from the Fargo area high schools yesterday. They put together between those folks and the other volunteers from this area around 100,000 sandbags in 48 hours, a massive operation here.
Now, this is not new to folks in this region. It floods every single spring. But this year, the melting snow, they got rain, and things up north towards Grand Forks, and as you head towards Canada, they're not melting at the same rate.
So you have huge ice jams up there, and then you have the water just backing up here. And there's nowhere else for it to go right now -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: What a mess. You've really described an absolute mess.
Tom Halden, with our affiliate KMSP.
Thanks for the update. Appreciate it -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Coming up, some tears of joy from Jill Carroll. On Monday, she thanked her colleagues at the "Christian Science Monitor" for their support. A few tears in that room, to say the least. And later, we'll talk with one reporter who spent months searching for her.
Plus, Congressman Tom DeLay's surprise decision to leave Congress. We'll talk to the reporter who broke that story, ask him how this could affect the 2006 election coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC)
S. O'BRIEN: That's Eddie Murphy.
M. O'BRIEN: Really?
S. O'BRIEN: Miles just said, "Eddie Murphy sings?"
M. O'BRIEN: Is that Eddie Murphy? Is that Eddie Murphy? No kidding.
S. O'BRIEN: I don't think he had any other hits, though.
M. O'BRIEN: I guess Maya Angelou is a real fan and that's the reason, they did that for her.
S. O'BRIEN: I'm not sure about that, but happy birthday, Maya.
M. O'BRIEN: You want to watch a movie?
S. O'BRIEN: Sure.
M. O'BRIEN: We have the technology.
S. O'BRIEN: Let's do it. M. O'BRIEN: Hollywood is rolling out this...
S. O'BRIEN: What are my choices?
M. O'BRIEN: ... Movie Link thing. Well, that's part of the whole thing.
Movielink.com is the location where you can go and get, you know, kind of recent to newly-released DVD movies. All right?
So we've got movielink.com up here and we've spent a little bit of time downloading a few things and signing on. So we've shortcutted (ph) the process here. But here, let's get "Brokeback Mountain," $19.99.
That's a little high, don't you think? OK. Actually, it's $26.99. Oh, today only, $19.99.
So let's do our daily purchase special. And we're going to purchase it. And in theory, we could view the trailer and the clips and so forth if we wanted to.
S. O'BRIEN: Oh, nobody wants to see the trailer and the clips. Come on.
M. O'BRIEN: But don't you think $19.99 is a little high?
S. O'BRIEN: I think it's very steep.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
S. O'BRIEN: I mean, why not just go see it in the theater for -- what is it now, $11, $12?
M. O'BRIEN: Yes. I mean, I guess if it's you and a -- you and a -- you and a date, right, it's about the same, right, for two people to watch?
S. O'BRIEN: Yes, but you're watching on your laptop. You're not watching on a big screen.
All right. Sorry. I won't be a nay sayer yet.
M. O'BRIEN: It doesn't seem to be downloading just yet. So I'm going -- what I'm going to do is, we're going -- we're going to talk to somebody who writes about these things for "Wired" in just a little bit and, and I'm going to time out how long it takes to download "Brokeback Mountain." I figure it's going to take at least an hour.
The trick -- here's the thing. Hollywood, you know, needs to do this but is afraid to do this. So it's a lot of money and it's very cumbersome, it's difficult, it's stuck on your PC.
S. O'BRIEN: It's not 100 percent there yet.
M. O'BRIEN: They're dipping their toe into it, they're not so sure about it. But we'll see how this goes and we'll keep you posted.
S. O'BRIEN: All right.
M. O'BRIEN: So stay with us in the morning. We'll let you know how...
S. O'BRIEN: And we can spend our 9:00 hour watching "Brokeback Mountain."
M. O'BRIEN: That's right. We'll put "Brokeback Mountain" on.
S. O'BRIEN: What a great idea.
M. O'BRIEN: I think we might owe them more than $20 if we do that.
S. O'BRIEN: You think?
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
S. O'BRIEN: Other stories making news. Carol's got that. She's in the newsroom for us this morning.
Hey, Carol.
COSTELLO: Good morning.
Good morning to all of you.
New charges against Saddam Hussein. An Iraqi tribunal now charging the former Iraqi leader with the deaths of some 5,000 Kurds back in 1988. The announcement came just moments ago. It also involves some of his co-defendants.
We'll have much more throughout AMERICAN MORNING.
It was described as an emotional love-fest. After 82 days in captivity, former Iraqi hostage Jill Carroll visited her colleagues at the "Christian Science Monitor." She said an emotional "thank you" to the paper for its efforts during the last three months. The paper, in the meantime, acknowledged an extensive U.S. effort to find Carroll.
The federal jury in the Zacarias Moussaoui trial has decided he is eligible for the death penalty. The question now, should he be executed? Moussaoui responded bitterly to the decision, shouting, "You'll never get my blood! God curse you all!"
Former House majority leader Tom DeLay is giving it all up for the Republican Party. He's announcing plans to resign from Congress some time in June and dropping out of his re-election bid. DeLay says he's realistic and doesn't want to take the chance the seat will go to a Democrat.
DeLay, as you know, is charged with violating state campaign finance laws. Celebrations still under way in Florida. Gator fans marking their first national basketball championship. Look at the streets of Gainesville, as you can imagine. They were literally filled with cheering students.
The Florid Gators beat the UCLA Bruins 73-57. (INAUDIBLE) led the Gators with 16 points, nine rebounds and six blocks.
It's so cool to watch them celebrating -- Chad.
MYERS: Was there a basketball game last night?
COSTELLO: I think so, yes.
MYERS: Or was that -- that was in the middle of the night, wasn't it? It started at 9:30. Come on! I can't stay up that late.
Good morning.
(WEATHER REPORT)
MYERS: Back to you guys.
S. O'BRIEN: All right, Chad. Thank you very much.
There's a new movie to tell you about. The trailer itself is pretty controversial with audiences.
The film is "United 93." It's Hollywood's first film specifically about the 9/11 attacks. And now, nearly five years later, some people say it's still too much, too soon.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE, "UNITED 93": We are going to go over to Chris and talk about the forecast, which is a very good one.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Actually, conducive to just heading out and enjoying the day.
S. O'BRIEN (voice over): It starts off innocently, much like the morning of September 11th. But unlike the passengers and the crew depicturesed in the trailer for the movie "United 93," we already know how it's all going to end.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE, "UNITED 93": Good morning, sir. You just made it -- 4D.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE, "UNITED 93": Flight attendants, prepare for takeoff, please.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE, "UNITED 93": I'd like to be home with my babies.
S. O'BRIEN: A short time later the terror begins to unfold.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE, "UNITED 93": CNN's reporting a light similar aircraft has just hit the World Trade Center.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE, "UNITED 93": Man, that's a lot of smoke.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE, "UNITED 93": We've got another one.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE, "UNITED 93": We've got another hijack?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE, "UNITED 93": United 175 dropped its...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE, "UNITED 93": We've got a possible hijack.
S. O'BRIEN: It's the first movie to deal explicitly with the 9/11 attacks, but is it too close to reality, too soon? Some theaters, including at least one in New York, say yes, and they've pulled the trailer for "United 93."
Some relatives of those who died on Flight 93 support the movie. Alice Hoagland, whose son was a passenger, says the story is too important to hold back.
ALICE HOAGLAND, SON WAS ON FLIGHT 93: We cannot be offended by the truth. Flight 93 was a beautiful story in all that ugliness.
S. O'BRIEN: The studio says it stands behind the movie, saying, "Universal will continue to market 'United 93' in a manner we feel is truthful and direct so that those who elect to see the film will be prepared for the experience."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE, "UNITED 93": We have to do it now, because we know what happens if we just sit here and do nothing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
S. O'BRIEN: "United 93" is going to have its premier at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York. That's on April 25, and then it opens nationwide a couple of days after that, on the 28th.
M. O'BRIEN: It's tough sledding. It is. I mean, we're talking now almost five years, and it's still very raw, very difficult.
S. O'BRIEN: You can understand both sides of the argument. You really can. At some point, I mean, I think what the family members want is something done well.
And -- but you're right, is five years enough time? Is 10 years? Will it ever be for people enough time when you've lost someone in a horrible tragedy?
You know, is 50 years enough time? Maybe not.
M. O'BRIEN: I don't know.
S. O'BRIEN: Anyway, that will be -- that will be interesting to see when it comes out, the reaction of people who see it.
Business news coming up next. And Andy is "Minding Your Business."
We're back in just a moment. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
S. O'BRIEN: A look this morning at some stories we're working on.
Former House majority leader Tom DeLay announce plans to resign.
Jurors decide that Zacarias Moussaoui is eligible for the death penalty.
Iraq's high court announces new charges against Saddam Hussein.
Iowa reports the biggest mumps outbreak in 17 years.
And searching for more victims of the deadly tornadoes in Tennessee. We'll be live from one of the hardest hit areas just ahead this morning.
Turning to business news now, what would you pay for a 240-mile- an-hour super car?
ANDY SERWER, EDITOR-AT-LARGE, "FORTUNE": You better get your credit card ready.
S. O'BRIEN: Come on.
M. O'BRIEN: What are you going to do with a 240-mile-an-hour car?
(CROSSTALK)
M. O'BRIEN: What are you going to do with the thing?
SERWER: Well, yes. Well...
S. O'BRIEN: Yes, you can't go 240 -- cops hate that.
SERWER: Two hundred and forty-five miles an hour.
M. O'BRIEN: Although the cops couldn't catch you.
SERWER: No, they couldn't.
S. O'BRIEN: Well, when you run into a tree they could.
SERWER: Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: That would be a problem.
SERWER: We're going to talk about this thing. It's called the Koenigsegg CCX. This is the fastest car in the world, 245 miles an hour, designed and built by Christian von Koenigsegg, wouldn't you know, of Sweden. He's 33 years old, built his first one in 1996, and couldn't export it to the U.S. because we actually have...
S. O'BRIEN: It looks like a MatchBox car.
SERWER: But it's real. It's real. And you won't believe how much it costs.
M. O'BRIEN: It's all about scale.
SERWER: But you couldn't make it for the U.S. because we have actually tougher emissions and safety requirements.
M. O'BRIEN: Than Sweden, really?
SERWER: Yes, than all of Europe and Russia, would you believe.
M. O'BRIEN: Really? Who would have thunk it.
SERWER: And you know how much this costs? OK, are you ready?
S. O'BRIEN: A million dollars.
SERWER: Close -- $722,000.
S. O'BRIEN: You cannot go 240 miles in that car.
SERWER: It's worth it. It's so worth it.
S. O'BRIEN: No.
(CROSSTALK)
M. O'BRIEN: You go to the desert and you go in a straight line.
SERWER: Yes.
You know what the most expensive car is? The Begati Verone (ph) at $1.47 million. So this is a bargain. It's only half as much.
M. O'BRIEN: And this one will blow its doors off.
SERWER: Yes. That's right, it will.
And I also want to talk a little bit about Toyota. Speaking of cars, you know, Carrie Lee earlier on the program was talking about, of course, all their success. And we're learning now, though, that Toyota plans to roll out a full line of hybrid vehicles over the next several years.
And so it will be like a parallel universe of their entire line of cars, only as hybrids, which is interesting stuff. They say they plan to sell a million hybrids a year by 2012. Just to give you a frame of reference, they're only selling about 200,000 a year now. Eight million vehicles total. So you can see they really, really plan to make a big push here.
M. O'BRIEN: I hear they -- I hear they shimmy a little bit over 200, though.
SERWER: Yes. Well, you can't...
M. O'BRIEN: So you might not want to get one of those.
SERWER: ... get that Prius -- I don't know if is a Prius will break 100, quite frankly. I really kind of doubt it.
S. O'BRIEN: Take it to the desert.
SERWER: Go in a straight line, Soledad, right out there.
M. O'BRIEN: When you're going that fast, the extension cord kind of unreels. So it's a problem.
SERWER: That's very good.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
All right. Well, thanks for dropping by.
SERWER: The Koenigsegg.
M. O'BRIEN: The Koenigsegg.
SERWER: It's also hard to say.
M. O'BRIEN: All right.
(CROSSTALK)
M. O'BRIEN: All right.
As we approach the top of the hour, let's check on the forecast. Chad Myers with that.
Chad, the 240 mile-an-hour vehicle that has your name written all over it.
MYERS: You know, I guess you could take that to some racetrack somewhere. But I don't know where, or proving grounds...
(CROSSTALK)
M. O'BRIEN: Andy says you don't want to do the turns. You don't want to turn. You just want to go straight.
S. O'BRIEN: It's not practical. I realize for all you guys clearly in the midlife crisis over here...
SERWER: Right. I just need one of those. OK?
S. O'BRIEN: ... not going to happen.
MYERS: Who said I was going to get groceries in it?
(LAUGHTER)
MYERS: Honey, I'll be right back. Here's the milk.
(WEATHER REPORT)
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