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American Morning

A Surprise From Embattled Congressman Tom DeLay

Aired April 04, 2006 - 08:00   ET

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

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning.
Welcome, everybody.

I'm Soledad O'Brien.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Miles O'Brien.

A surprise this morning from the embattled congressman, Tom DeLay.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. TOM DELAY (R), TEXAS: I have no regrets today and no doubts. I am proud of the past. I am at peace with the present.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

M. O'BRIEN: And with that, he is stepping away from his seat for good. We're live with more on this developing story.

Also this...

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Aneesh Raman in Baghdad.

Saddam Hussein facing new charges this morning, including, for the first time, the crime of genocide. That story coming up.

S. O'BRIEN: The death penalty is now officially on the table as the only man charged in the U.S. in connection with 9/11 enters the next penalty phase.

M. O'BRIEN: A call for federal help now in areas devastated by those tornadoes over the weekend. The search for victims there expected to resume this morning.

And we're checking out a new video on demand service from the movie studios. Is it really a good deal? We'll download the facts for you ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING.

And we begin with more on Tom DeLay's big decision. Overnight, he announced that he's stepping out of the political spotlight into private life.

CNN's Dana Bash live on Capitol Hill with more on this -- Dana, it's quite a surprising, isn't it? DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It certainly is quite a surprise, Miles. And it really marks the end of an era not only here on Capitol Hill, but more broadly in American politics.

Tom DeLay was known as "The Hammer" for the way he wielded his power. But he already had to give up that power recently, just last year, primarily because he was indicted in Texas. And, more recently, he has been under a bigger and maybe darker cloud of scandal because two of his top former aides have been indicted and actually pleaded guilty on corruption charges surrounding the Jack Abramoff scandal.

And on that issue, Miles, Tom DeLay, in a prepared statement, was vintage DeLay.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DELAY: I have no fear whatsoever about any investigation into me or my personal or professional activities. As one of my colleagues in the House leadership astutely observed a while back, the wheels of justice turn much slowly -- much more slowly than the wheels of allegation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Now, the main reason why Tom DeLay is giving up his seat, not running for reelection and probably stepping down next month or by June is because the political reality is that although he just won last month a very hard fought Republican primary to keep his seat, the reality is that the Democrat -- that his Democratic opponent would likely have beaten him.

So he wants to spas, let another Republican take his seat, so that that seat remains in Republican control, especially give the fact that this November, every seat -- he understands more than anybody -- is going to count for Republicans. He wanted to keep their hold on power here.

M. O'BRIEN: Well, there's the other factor, Dana. It's that Tom DeLay kind of embodies a lot of what the Democrats are criticizing Republicans about today. And I suspect, privately, at least, a lot of Republicans in Congress are a bit relieved at the news.

BASH: Well, interesting. First of all, on the Democrats, there's no question that Tom DeLay has become and probably will still be their poster child for what they call the culture of corruption in Washington. And they're likely to still run against him more broadly on a national level, even though he is not going to be on the ballot in Texas.

But in terms of the way he has been viewed among Republicans, you know, he certainly had a hold on power and the ability to really use discipline to get things done for the Bush White House. He helped with their tax cut. He helped with Medicare reform, education reform. He was able to really keep the Republican rank and file in line. And certainly they already miss that. But in terms of the political reality now, they realize and have realized for some time that he has become a liability for the Republican Party -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Dana Bash on the Hill.

Thank you very much -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: New charges just announced this morning against Saddam Hussein, including, for the first time, the charge of genocide. New charges also leveled against the man known as "Chemical Ali."

Let's get right to CNN's Aneesh Raman.

He's live for us in Baghdad this morning -- Aneesh, good morning to you.

Tell us a little bit more about these charges.

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Soledad, good morning.

An indictment coming from the court trying Saddam Hussein. This one, for the first time, as you say, with the charge of genocide. It centers on what was called the Anfal Campaign, committed, allegedly, by Saddam's regime in the late 1980s.

This is some video, I think, of the aftermath of some of the attacks. It is easily one of the worst atrocities committed by Saddam's regime. Conservative estimates say that well over 100,000 Kurds were killed, most infamously in the town of Halabjah. There, some 5,000 people were killed after a chemical attack that was directed by "Chemical Ali," Saddam's cousin, who is one of the six co- defendants mentioned in this indictment.

Now, the court said the investigation phase is complete in the Anfal Campaign. They have now handed over that docket to the prosecutorial arm of the court. What is unclear is when the trial will begin. But some are estimating it could start as early as next month -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Aneesh, give me a sense of how, technically and literally, it's going to work.

I mean two trials running simultaneously sort of with Saddam Hussein at the center of both?

RAMAN: It's a great question. It's one we have no answer yet from the court. We are assuming that the trial will begin, it seems, while the current trial, that of Dujail, where Saddam faces charges of crimes against humanity, is still ongoing. The court does have the apparati to essentially try both of these cases at this time.

The bigger question, as well, is if Saddam Hussein is found guilty in the first trial and he is sentenced to death, will that death sentence be carried out with these other trials ongoing. Saddam could, perhaps, face up to 12 trials. Early indications from the court suggest that they will execute him if he is found guilty and given the death sentence within 30 days of the trial essentially ending, the first one -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: All right, well, we will all see.

Aneesh Raman for us in Baghdad.

Aneesh, thank you -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen is heading out this morning to survey devastation from a string of killer tornadoes we've been telling you about. The toll? Twenty-three killed, 1,800 businesses and homes gone.

Correspondent Jonathan Freed live now from Newbern, Tennessee in advance of the governor's arrival there -- Jonathan, what will the governor see today?

JONATHAN FREED, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Miles.

The governor is going to see what we are seeing right here. The sun has just come up in the last little while here in Newbern, Tennessee. I'm standing in the remains of the United Methodist Church here and the governor is going to see destruction everywhere he looks.

Miles, I have not seen this since Katrina. It's bringing back those feelings of working up the morning after Katrina and seeing that type of destruction, lives shattered to that extent.

Here in the church, it looks like this -- this was the platform up here. And you can see what looks like to be the metal folding chairs, perhaps where the choir used to sit. As far as we can tell, this area right around here used to be the chapel. And as the sun came up, I just kind of took a look around Miles. And I started over here and I just kind of swept all the way around. All I see are shattered buildings, shattered homes, shattered lives, trees everywhere.

And in talking to some of the people here, you look in their eyes, Miles, and you get that feeling that, again, I have not felt since the Gulf Coast last year, that feeling of almost helplessness and frustration. It's just that mix, that cauldron of emotions. And you get a sense that many people here are just not sure how they're going to go forward. But, of course, it hasn't even been two days yet -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Jonathan Freed in Newbern, Tennessee.

Thank you.

In just a few moments on AMERICAN MORNING, we'll talk to a survivor who will describe what it felt like to hear a tornado bearing down on her house. She rode it out inside the bathroom in her bathtub. Let's check in now on the weather.

Chad Myers at the CNN Center with the latest -- hello, Chad.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: People always wonder what about the bathtub, what's that -- why do people ride it out in the bathtub? Well, you have a lot of strong walls, usually, around a bathroom. Usually it's in the interior of a room or interior of the home. Maybe if it's on the outside wall, there's only a small window, not a big window. And that tub is pretty strong. I mean even if it's a -- even if it's a fiberglass one, that's pretty strong to keep things from bouncing off you. So that's never a bad idea, if that's your safest place, if you don't have a basement.

(WEATHER REPORT)

MYERS: And here are the airport delays for you at this point of the day. Boston, 35 minutes; LaGuardia at a buck-and-a-half and even Philadelphia, 15 minutes.

Miles -- back to you.

M. O'BRIEN: All right, thank you very much, Chad Myers.

Let's get some headlines now.

Carol Costello -- good morning, Carol.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Miles.

Good morning to all of you.

We are just getting word of new violence in Iraq. Let's take a look at these pictures. We just got these in a short time ago. We believe seven people have been killed in a car bombing. This is in Sadr City. That's in eastern Baghdad. The attack taking place near a car dealership. We also understand that more than two dozen other people have been injured.

The hard part is over for the government. The only person charged in connection with the 9/11 attacks in the United States is eligible for the death penalty. A federal jury made that decision in the case against Zacarias Moussaoui. The next phase of the trial picks up again on Thursday.

Authorities in France again on alert as another mass demonstration is taking place right now in Paris. We just got these pictures in, as well. Students and union workers, as you know, are upset about a new jobs law that would make it easier to fire young workers. Some 100,000 people are expected to take to the streets; actually, more than a million. Actually, what you're seeing are preparations for this big protest. We're going to have a live report from Paris in our next hour.

Georgia Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney is calling it an issue of racial profiling. She's talking about an incident at a security checkpoint. It happened last week between her and Capitol police. By some accounts, McKinney allegedly struck an officer in the chest with her cell phone. Federal prosecutors are contemplating whether they'll file criminal charges against her.

And if you like your Splenda, listen to this. A consumer group claims the sweetener may have some side effects that could include stomach pain. Apparently it's hard on your digestion. The group Citizens for Health is asking the FDA to pull Splenda off the market until it does more research. But the manufacturer of Splenda says there is no evidence it causes any side effects at all.

That's a look at the headlines this morning.

Back to you -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: All right, thank you very much, Carol.

Ahead this morning, much more on the Zacarias Moussaoui case. We're going to talk to a 9/11 family member who's been in the courtroom from the trial and get her take on Monday's big ruling.

M. O'BRIEN: Also, rape allegations against members of Duke's lacrosse team putting race and class issues under the microscope in a small college town. The mayor tells us how his community is holding up.

S. O'BRIEN: And a young girl who's caught up in a painful cycle of self-abuse. A special program that's helping kids like her find new hope. We'll tell you about it on AMERICAN MORNING.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Well, the jury has spoken and al Qaeda conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui is eligible for execution. Phase two of his sentencing trial begins on Thursday. Jurors will hear testimony from family members of 9/11 victims.

Debra Burlingame's brother was a pilot on American Airlines Flight 77, which crashed into the Pentagon.

Debra is with us this morning.

It has been a long time since we've had a chance to talk and catch up.

DEBRA BURLINGAME, 9/11 FAMILY MEMBER: It has.

S. O'BRIEN: Wow! It's nice to see you.

BURLINGAME: It's good to see you, too.

S. O'BRIEN: Tell me a little bit about what it was like to be in the courtroom so close to Zacarias Moussaoui. BURLINGAME: It was chilling, frankly. And let me tell you how close I was. I could have taken a piece of paper, wadded it up and hit him in the back.

S. O'BRIEN: Really?

BURLINGAME: He was that close. He is the face of al Qaeda. There's no question. The fact that they're calling him a wannabe terrorist is somewhat annoying because this guy is the real -- the real deal. And he's scary. He is an avowed Jihadi. He talks about killing Americans. That is his heart's delight.

S. O'BRIEN: You are pleased, then, with how it's going to so far. I mean he faces death and it looks likely that he's going to get death.

BURLINGAME: Yes. I think that they, the judge bifurcated the trial because she knew that the testimony that's coming up next, some 40 family members talking about their damages, is going to be devastating testimony.

S. O'BRIEN: Oh, it's going to be brutal.

BURLINGAME: And they wanted to insulate the fact causal links part of the -- of the trial from that, because he's going to have -- it's going to be a mountain of tears in that courtroom.

S. O'BRIEN: Some of the details, you know, and we haven't had a chance to have cameras in the courtroom, so the detail -- you know, everything is sort of secondhand. But the details have just been chilling in some of his testimony.

BURLINGAME: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: What sort of struck you the most, do you think? I mean, in a way, I'm asking what was the hardest thing to hear from his own mouth?

BURLINGAME: The hardest to hear was how matter of fact he was about the idea of slitting a man's throat, how easy it is to slit a man's throat. He said you don't have to practice that. However, they did -- you know, my brother was a pilot, so this was very personal testimony to me. He said all the muscle hijackers were -- were trained with -- they did knife training. They were required to slaughter a camel and a sheep in preparation for storming the cockpit. That was -- that was devastating testimony to hear.

S. O'BRIEN: You have to see your brother's face when you...

BURLINGAME: His and, you know, I've come to know all of the other families and I see those other pilots, too. I've heard, you know, the testimony about the flight attendant on Flight 93 begging for her life -- "Please, I don't want to die." He delighted in that, the sound of -- I think he called her a deranged woman begging for her life. S. O'BRIEN: Well, speaking of deranged, there are people who said he's crazy. He's crazy. We had a legal analyst who said, you know, he's basically nuts except for the fact that he's not chewing on the carpet. But, you know, he could be chewing on the carpet.

Do you disagree with that?

BURLINGAME: I totally disagree with that. This is a man who has a master's degree. He was Western educated. He was especially listened to and prized by Osama bin Laden because he read the French newspapers, he listened to the BBC, he had -- he was sophisticated. And he could sort of clue them into how the Western mind would react to what they were planning.

He's not crazy. He is a frantic, there's no question about it. But he had a -- very interestingly, he, when one of his own attorneys was trying to discredit him, said, look, don't you think this is a conspiracy? Haven't you called the judge the death judge? And he smiled and he said look, this is war and war is propaganda. Yes, I called her the death judge because I knew it would get on the Internet and my base would be energized.

S. O'BRIEN: He sounds like a strategist, almost, not a...

BURLINGAME: Absolutely.

S. O'BRIEN: ... not a crazy person, right?

BURLINGAME: He knows that the Jihadis around the world, who are technologically very sophisticated, are listening to him.

S. O'BRIEN: There's an argument by some family members, frankly, that says OK, make the guy a martyr. You kill him, you make him a martyr and then you've sort of worked against what you -- what, you know, the end goal anyway.

I mean isn't that a -- isn't there a point to that?

BURLINGAME: There is a point to that if you -- if you're thinking like a Westerner. What we have -- the mistake that we make too often is that we don't put ourselves in their heads. They know us very well, but we don't know them very well. And the truth of the matter is to, for a Jihadi to die at the hands of an infidel -- and remember, the training camp tapes that we saw in court, they refer to us as apes and pigs. We're subhuman to them. To have us put one of theirs to death is a humiliating death.

And Osama bin Laden, in his last tape, on January 19th, said you will never catch me alive. And we'll never submit to your putting me to death. The humiliating prospect of you putting me to death will never happen. So this is -- this is his -- part of his propaganda, this idea that he is pushing back as a Jihadi. And he has said in the courtroom, "I will fight this to the death." Because us putting him to death is not a glorious death and I think, frankly, he will be forgotten. And I would put this, also, to you, Soledad. The amount of money, of upkeep, it will cost him, someone said $100,000 a year. That would put four kids full freight through college for extent -- how many years will he survive? He's 37 years old.

I'd rather see four children of our fallen soldiers get that money than give this guy three squares a day and a comfortable room and a television set.

Let's get rid of him. I think he'll be forgotten.

S. O'BRIEN: Debra Burlingame, we'll have you back we will talk a little bit about the testimony from the family members.

BURLINGAME: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: I do agree with you, I think it's just going to be brutal and I, you know, we're not inside with a camera, so we'll want to chat with you again.

BURLINGAME: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: Thank you.

Nice to catch up with you. We never --

BURLINGAME: Really nice to see you, too.

S. O'BRIEN: ... we -- too much time has passed, I think it's fair to say.

BURLINGAME: I know it.

S. O'BRIEN: Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Thank you, Soledad.

Coming up, we'll talk to one of the survivors of those deadly Tennessee twisters. Incredibly, she stayed in her house while a tornado ripped apart her home all around her. She'll tell us how she rode out that storm.

Plus, "Brokeback Mountain" just one of the first movies on a new online video on demand service. Today is the first day you can use it. But is the convenience worth the cost? There's a lot of catches to this deal. We'll delve into all of that ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: It's the first day of a new era for folks who would like to download movies kind of iTunes style. But clearly Hollywood executives are wading into these waters very cautiously. And the net result may be consumers are frustrated by what they check out.

Now, check out movielink.com. Let's go to the Web site quickly before we bring our guest in here. I want to just show you what we did. This is the Web site. And today we decided to download the special of the day on its first day. It happens to be "Brokeback Mountain." It took us, Brian, what was it? About 30 minutes? Thirty minutes to download the movie. And it is there. Of course, we have a pretty high speed connection here. And I want you to take a look. I'm going to put it on full resolution there for what you get. And that's kind of -- there goes the movie.

Pretty exciting, huh?

OK, there you have it.

So we did it.

Now, Xeni Jardin is a tech culture journalist and coeditor of the Web log BoingBoing. BoingBoing, that is. Or is it BoingBoing?

XENI JARDIN, BOINGBOING.NET: It is BoingBoing.

M. O'BRIEN: BoingBoing. And Xeni, let's go through this. Movie Link, it -- the download time was pretty good. We have a pretty beefy connection here, which helps.

JARDIN: That's great.

M. O'BRIEN: It says like 6,300 kilobits, a little better than I get at home.

JARDIN: Right.

M. O'BRIEN: But nonetheless, 30 minutes, maybe an hour. So if you wanted to find something, you could do it and, say, go to bed or go out somewhere and have the movie.

But, the resolution, for one thing, is not what you would get on a DVD and it's about the same cost as going out and buying the "Brokeback Mountain" DVD.

So what's the advantage?

JARDIN: Well, the exciting news here is that the studios are taking a baby step forward toward downloads. I mean, in any way, this isn't news because rentals have been available through Movie Link and Cinema Now for a while.

But, yes, now you can buy the digital copy and watch it as many times as you like.

But there's a lot of down sides to the downloads, too. For one, good luck if you're on a Mac. These only work with Internet Explorer 6 on a PC. And then you, in some cases, you just have to watch them only on one PC. You can't watch them on your TV or move them around to a bunch of different computers if you need to do that.

It -- there are a lot of restrictions. And then they're charging like twice the price of DVDs.

M. O'BRIEN: Well, so that's a lot of down side. And one other. A lot of people are watching videos on their iPods now.

JARDIN: Yes.

M. O'BRIEN: And you can't get it onto an iPod, can you?

JARDIN: Right. I think we're going to see consumers pressuring for lower prices and for more freedom about how you watch the movie, the freedom to move it around to different devices. And definitely those devices are going to include mobile devices like the iPod.

M. O'BRIEN: So you have to ask the question -- if they're making it so difficult to use and more expensive than what you can get elsewhere, could it possibly be a success?

JARDIN: Well, I think it's kind of like when the record industry first launched its legitimate download services, people like to call them. Nobody wanted to use them because they were so clunky and they were kind of over priced. So I think it's an important first step. And, also, it really kind of validates this radical idea in Hollywood of what they're calling day and date releases, where eventually maybe you could just -- you could see a movie in theater, on DVD or download it all on the very same day that was it was released. There's a lot of pressure for that.

M. O'BRIEN: So you -- you're going to look at the glass half full and say at least they're doing something and hope that consumer pressure will change the way it operates so you can use it in a more effective way?

JARDIN: I will. But it's kind of like when you go into a food store and you buy something that's fat-free and it's like twice the price. Why are they charging us more for something that costs them $5 less per download to produce than a DVD? It's a little bit unfair for consumers still, I'd say.

M. O'BRIEN: And the real -- the big picture reality here is there's just -- there's no stopping this. It's a lot like what we saw in music with Napster not too long ago.

JARDIN: Yes.

M. O'BRIEN: The whole notion of downloading this intellectual property and perhaps doing that illegally, it's almost impossible to stop, isn't it?

JARDIN: It is. I interviewed Steven Soderbergh for "Wired" magazine a few moments ago about this. And he said, you know, this idea of day and date release, of putting movies out there in all these different formats, it's already there. It's called piracy. And now the question is really to make this easier for the consumer.

This isn't perfect, but I guess you could say it's a good start.

M. O'BRIEN: All right, Xeni Jardin of BoingBoing.

I just like saying that, the BoingBoing blog site. Thank you very much for being with us.

JARDIN: Thank you, Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Speaking of movies, Julia Roberts, as we all know, box office gold in Hollywood. Here's the question, though. Can she bring in the bucks on Broadway? She's got a new show. The first week has gone by. We'll tell you how it went just ahead.

Plus, there is more proof that there is no such thing as a free lunch when you fly. Andy is minding your business just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

We're back in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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