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American Morning

Sex Sting Bust; Immigration Battle; Levees Give Way Near Sacramento

Aired April 05, 2006 - 09:00   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.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Soledad O'Brien. Lots to get to this morning.

A high-ranking official at the Department of Homeland Security is now in jail, confessing, apparently to allegations that he tried to seduce a young girl over the Internet.

A levee break in central California. More heavy rains there could cause massive mudslides. We're watching that.

Southern California not immune from severe weather as well. Check out this roof collapse in L.A. from all the rain.

S. O'BRIEN: In an upscale Connecticut community, police have a murder mystery on their hands, and it comes on the heels of another murder in the same family.

Plus this...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. CYNTHIA MCKINNEY (D), GEORGIA: Let me say that this has become much ado about a hairdo.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

S. O'BRIEN: Was Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney's confrontation with Capitol Police just about her hairdo or was it racial profiling? Was any part of it criminal? We hear both sides of the story just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

M. O'BRIEN: Good morning. Welcome back.

We're going to hear from the president of the United States in just a few moments. He has some words today about the immigration legislation which is winding its way through Congress. As soon as that happens, we'll bring it to you.

In the meantime, a sex sting on the Web to tell you about. An official of the Homeland Security Department accused of trying to seduce a 14-year-old using his computer. Brian Doyle being put on administrative leave by the department now. He was arrested late last night at his home in Silver Spring, Maryland. Our Homeland Security Correspondent Jeanne Meserve, who has dealt with Mr. Doyle in the past, joins us now from Washington with more -- Jeanne.

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Miles, Brian Doyle, the deputy press secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, thought he was talking online to a 14-year-old girl, holding what law enforcement describes as hard-core, explicit and perverse conversations, all allegedly, sending her pornographic movie clips and urging her to get a Web cam so he could see live, nude pictures of her. But the 14-year-old was really an undercover detective.

Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd spoke earlier to AMERICAN MORNING.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHERIFF GRADY JUDD, POLK COUNTY, FLORIDA: He talked vile, vulgar. He explained what he would like this 14-year-old to do to him and what sex acts he would like to perform on this 14-year-old. He provided his office telephone number, his cell telephone number, and his home telephone number as well, because he wanted to talk with her over the telephone, as well as over the computer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MESERVE: And last night, Brian Doyle was arrested at his home white conversing with a decoy. The Polk County Sheriff's Department says he has confessed.

In their first conversation, police say Doyle told the person he believed to be a 14-year-old who he was and what he did, even sending her a photograph of himself wearing his Department of Homeland Security I.D. A department spokesman says, "We take these allegations very seriously and we will quality fully with the ongoing investigation." An official says Doyle will likely be put on administrative leave today -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Jeanne, the fact that they cast this net without specifically starting Doyle and found him makes a lot of people wonder how many other potential victims might have been out there. Do we know yet what the case is there?

MESERVE: We don't know definitively, but the sheriff says that he believes there are others. That is because this 14-year-old decoy had a name, but Doyle sometimes use a different name when addressing her. So they believe that could be an indicator he was conversing with others, perhaps real 14-year-olds, or other youngsters.

M. O'BRIEN: Jeanne Meserve in Washington.

Thank you very much.

Just a few moments ago, the president of the United States came out of the Oval Office into the Rose Garden. He's there to talk about immigration reform as that battle continues. We expect to be hearing from him in just a moment. We'll get that to you in just a moment. S. O'BRIEN: Immigration, of course, has been, I mean, a hot- button topic, does not even begin to cover where the issue has gone with debates on both sides. And also, a debate that frankly is becoming very emotional and personal. And, of course, including not only national security, but then, of course, other issues, like who should be in this country, who should have the opportunity to live in this country, are people stealing jobs from American workers? I mean, it's really -- the debate's entered kind of a new phase.

We've heard people say in some ways -- I think it was Senator McCain who said he was surprised at the tenor and the tone and the change in the debate.

M. O'BRIEN: Well, and it's interesting, because you find Senator McCain in line with, of all people, Senator Kennedy on some of this legislation.

S. O'BRIEN: Right.

M. O'BRIEN: What's interesting is, you have the House of Representatives with very severe measures which would make people who are in the United States illegal, basically felons. And then on the other hand, you have people who would suggest some form of amnesty.

The president has been trying to find middle ground. Let's listen to him right now.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: ... a very vital issue for our country, and that is immigration reform. I urge the senators to continue to work toward get a comprehensive bill, a bill that will help us secure our borders, a bill that will cause the people in the interior of this country to recognize and enforce the law, and a bill that will include a guest worker provision that will enable us to more secure the border, will recognize that there are people here working hard for jobs Americans won't do, and a guest worker provision that is not amnesty, one that provides for automatic citizenship.

This is a vital debate. I think the members who are working hard to get a bill done, I strongly urge them to come to a conclusion as quickly as possible and pass a comprehensive bill.

Thank you all very much.

S. O'BRIEN: A very brief message, as you heard right there from President Bush, talking about immigration. Short message, but, boy, a big topic, and a tough topic to try to find some common ground on.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes. It has been incredibly divisive. And as we've talk about time and again, it's been difficult to come up with the right way to find the middle ground here.

Amnesty is such a super-charged, loaded word. And, for that matter, making people who are immigrants illegally in the country now, perhaps as many as 12 million of them, in an instant felons is another side of it. So, in the meantime, the president's trying to find his way through this, and Ed Henry has been watching it for us at the White House.

Ed, what's the president trying to accomplish here?

ED HENRY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: He's really just trying to prod Congress. He sees the close of this Senate debate coming upon everyone. They're expecting a vote at some point in the next couple of days to cut off debate. And he really wants to move the debate along. He didn't really make any news in that statement, as you know.

For days now, dating back to the summit down in Cancun last week, even before that, the president has been calling for a comprehensive bill. He did that again, as you heard. And what that means is, while there is a vocal bloc of conservatives in his own party saying they want immigration reform to focus solely on securing U.S. borders, the president thinks it needs to be a three-part effort, basically secure the borders, also have better enforcement here inside the borders, and finally, that guest worker program we were talking about, some way to deal with the nearly 12 million illegal immigrants already here.

But as you know, a lot of conservatives on the Hill don't want to hear that. They don't want to see this guest worker program. They do call it amnesty. That's why the president is trying to push back.

He put out an official statement, the administration did, last night, stopping short of endorsing the Senate bill that's being considered, but clearly leaving the door open to supporting that. He has been asked previously whether or not he would veto any final legislation that does not include a guest worker program. The president has refused to say whether he would veto it.

The question really is whether he will even ever get a final bill. Will Congress stalemate since this is such a divisive debate? They may never pass a final product.

Even if the Senate pushes something through this week, Miles, it could end up getting stalled in a conference committee. Obviously, in an election year, it's a tough issue to deal with -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Well, you can imagine, Ed Henry -- and you've spent a lot of time covering conference committees over the year at your other job down at the Hill -- there's just so little point of overlap between those two pieces of legislation. It would be very difficult to come up with some kind of compromise.

HENRY: Absolutely, because as you know, the House bill is so narrow and just focuses mostly on the borders, focuses on this -- this wall between the United States and Mexico, a wall that the president himself has said he doesn't think it would be able to work, basically. And then the Senate bill, while it's not final yet, is expected to have many more provisions. And as you say, the bridge may be just too wide. The divide may be too wide to bridge -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Ed Henry at the White House.

Thanks.

HENRY: Thank you.

S. O'BRIEN: Other stories making news, and Carol's got a look at those. She's in the newsroom.

Hey, Carol.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning.

Good morning to all of you.

The "CBS Evening News" with Katie Couric. That's right. Good- bye Bob Schieffer, hello Katie.

She's leaving the show after 15 years -- the "Today" show, that is. Katie making that announcement earlier this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KATIE COURIC, CO-HOST, "TODAY" SHOW: I wanted to tell all of you out there who have watched the show for the past 15 years that, after listening to my heart and my gut, two things that have served me pretty well in the past, I've decided I'll be leaving "Today" at the end of May.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: You go, girl.

Couric called it an honor and a privilege to be with the "Today" show for 15 years. No word yet on who will replace her. There's a lot of rumors swirling around out there.

Hear more longtime friends and colleague of Katie Couric on "LARRY KING LIVE." That airs tonight at 9:00 p.m. Eastern.

An incident between New York City police and hundreds of people in Brooklyn turning violent. Members of a predominantly Hasidic community taking to the streets, some setting fire to garbage cans. The incident apparently sparked by a traffic violation. It seems the group was angry about the arrest of an elderly man for using a cell phone while driving, which is illegal in the state of New York.

We showed you these pictures about 30 minutes ago. A truck carrying peroxide burst into flames in suburban Chicago. This took place south on I-55 near Bolingbrook. Crews there are letting the fire burn itself out. And they've also...

S. O'BRIEN: It looks like we -- it looks like we had a little bit of an audio hit on Carol's mic. So we can finish up here.

Ahead this morning, a question for you today. Was Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney a victim of racial profiling? She says yes. We're going to hear from her and also talk exclusively with the chief of the Capitol Hill Police this morning.

M. O'BRIEN: Also, a murder mystery in one of America's wealthiest communities. A man brutally killed in his own home. This after another bizarre murder in the same family.

S. O'BRIEN: Plus, he may be the forgotten one in the Jill Carroll saga, the translator who was killed the day Jill was kidnapped. Well, now Jill Carroll reaches out to his family. We'll have that emotional story just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: In the Dakotas, the Red River holding steady this morning. That's good news for people all along that swollen river. It now stands around 19 feet above flood stage in Fargo, North Dakota.

Officials are hopeful it will soon start going down. Homes in Fargo are staying pretty dry thanks to hundreds of thousands of sandbags put in place when the water first started to rise. People there remember those floods in '97 very well.

Persistent rains have Californians on edge this morning. In Los Angeles, the heavy rains being blamed for a roof collapse at a drug store. There were no injuries to report.

A couple of levees gave way near Sacramento, meanwhile. That forced dozens of families out of their home there's and into Red Cross shelters.

Staying near Sacramento, let's check in live now with Dave Marquis with our affiliate KXTV. He's in Calaveras County this morning.

Dave, how does it look there this morning?

DAVE MARQUIS, REPORTER, KXTV: Miles, good morning.

Well, there is real concern here in the little town of Valley Springs. There's a subdivision here called the La Contenta (ph) subdivision that has a series of ponds flowing through it, and we're going show you here what the concern really is.

Below, you can see part of a spillway from Peachtree Pond. And you can see the erosion that has been taking place. There's a team of engineers out there from the California Department of Water Resources and the Federal Bureau of Reclamation. You can just hear a collapse of another piece of this earthen dam here.

The concern is that this upper dam could break, catastrophically, fail catastrophically, sending water flooding down into a second pond below that is actually much larger, several acres, about 30 feet deep, and that it could cause that dam that holds that second pond to fail, causing a catastrophic flood to move down this canyon.

Now, about 100 homeowners have been evacuated and about 20 people are staying at a nearby Red Cross shelter. We understand crews are on their way this morning to begin putting plastic sheeting called visquine (ph) across the top of these two earthen dams holding back these two ponds. They are hoping to avoid a catastrophic failure.

The county has heavy equipment standing by. But right now, grave concern that this particular earthen dam holding back this pond could fail. And for now, they have no idea when these homeowners may be allowed to come back into their homes. And there is more rain in the forecast with another major storm due this week.

And so, Miles, a lot of concern here in this little community in the gold rush hills of California.

M. O'BRIEN: Thank you, Dave.

That's Dave Marquis of our affiliate KXTV in northern California there.

Chad, they're concerned about the forecast. They've got a levee that's maybe about to give way there, probably others that they're concerned about as well. What's the prognosis?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely.

(WEATHER REPORT)

MYERS: Soledad, back to you.

S. O'BRIEN: All right. Thank you, Chad.

MYERS: You're welcome.

S. O'BRIEN: Ahead this morning, a brutal killing that's' shocked one of the richest communities in America. A man about to plead guilty to fraud is found dead in his own home. This comes after another bizarre killing in the same family. We'll have that story just ahead.

Also, Jill Carroll, now a former hostage, reaches out to the family of a man somewhat forgotten during her hostage ordeal her translator who was shot dead the day she was kidnapped.

We've got that emotional story coming up next on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, a Democrat of Georgia, could face criminal charges from a confrontation she had with a Capitol Hill Police officer. She's accused of hitting the officer after he stopped her at a checkpoint. She says the officer grabbed her, that she's been the subject of racial profiling.

I spoke to Congresswoman McKinney, along with her lawyer, a little bit earlier this morning, but she was hard to pin down as to exactly what happened last Wednesday morning at the Longworth House Office Building. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

REP. CYNTHIA MCKINNEY (D), GEORGIA: Let me just say that it is a fact that we have had several discussions. And you're absolutely right, right there at CNN, about this larger issue of racial profiling. We've had a press conference with Danny Glover and Harry Belafonte, where 39 young African-Americans from Georgia told their story about how they were -- they felt disrespected and mistreated by the Capitol Police. We've had...

S. O'BRIEN: With all due respect, Congresswoman -- and forgive me for interrupting you -- but I believe we can't have this...

MCKINNEY: You shouldn't interrupt me, Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Well, until you answer my question, I'm not sure we can move on.

MCKINNEY: We have 250...

S. O'BRIEN: What I'm trying to establish is, are you saying that a Capitol Police officer pushed you, grabbed you inappropriately? And ma'am, if he did, please explain what happened. That's all. Let's establish that.

Then I would love to talk about racial profiling. I have a great interest in talking about race.

JAMES MYART, JR., ATTORNEY: Soledad, I appreciate the fact that you're trying to interview her...

S. O'BRIEN: I believe this is your attorney on the phone.

MYART: ... and get her to answer certain question. But look, if this was such a big crime, why was Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney not arrested on the spot? Now, we have got to get the stories correct here.

S. O'BRIEN: I could not agree with you more. I could not agree with you more that we should get the stories correct.

So somebody, anybody, lawyer, Congresswoman, you walk up to get in to the office building. What happened?

Did you -- you weren't wearing your pin, I know, and you've said that. You did say that on an interview with Wolf Blitzer. You approached the area. What -- just tell me what happened.

MCKINNEY: I'll tell you what happened.

S. O'BRIEN: Thank you.

MCKINNEY: In fact, over 250 black police officers have filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Capitol Police Department...

S. O'BRIEN: Forgive me for my lack of clarity. What happened that day, ma'am?

MIKE RAFFAUF, ATTORNEY FOR REP. MCKINNEY: Look, we have answered that question as to the best we can under these circumstances. Again, this matter is under review right now.

Criminal charges may be brought. Congresswoman McKinney did cooperate with the Capitol Hill Police. She sat down with them. This is not going to be a place where we're going to rehash the facts of this incident.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

S. O'BRIEN: Never really got to the facts in the first place. However, the police had their side of the story as well. We had an exclusive interview with Capitol Police Chief Terrance Gainer.

Here what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF TERRANCE GAINER, U.S. CAPITOL POLICE: The member approached the door. Members don't have to go through the magnetometers, but they need to be recognized.

There was a busy door. The officer did not recognize the member. She was not wearing her pin. He reached out and grabbed her. She turned around and hit him.

S. O'BRIEN: Hit him with her hand, hit him with a cell phone, hit him...

GAINER: The cell phone was in her hand, and we believe it was in the chest. So all the tapes are being reviewed, and the bottom line for us is, we do pride ourselves in security. It wasn't racial profiling.

Any time an officer doesn't know who someone is coming in the building, I direct them to stop that person. And even if you're stopped, you're not supposed to hit a police officer. It's very simple.

S. O'BRIEN: There are 535 members of Congress. Congresswoman McKinney has said there's only 13 black female Congress members. You know, the idea that -- that they could recognize, pick her face out, I mean, there are so few.

Shouldn't she stand out? Doesn't she have a point there?

GAINER: Well, number one, I don't think we should be treating members of Congress different because of how they look. Ideally, we teach our officers who the members are. When they go through the academy they learn that.

When new members come in, they're given those photographs. But if those busy doors, where some 30,000 people come in to our complex who work there, some nine million visitors a year, the doors are busy. And the officers are told, slow down and make sure we know who's coming in the building.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

S. O'BRIEN: House Republicans are trying to get a resolution praising the Capitol Police without mentioning McKinney. Democratic leaders are criticizing -- some of them are -- criticizing her actions and comments, too.

Ahead this morning, a murder mystery in an upscale Connecticut neighborhood to tell you about. A man is found dead, brutally killed in his own home. And it comes on the heels of another bizarre murder in the same family.

We'll tell you about that story just ahead. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Get the latest news every morning in your e-mail. Sign up for AMERICAN MORNING "Quick News" at cnn.com/am.

"Everybody Loves Raymond," right?

S. O'BRIEN: Yes.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes. He was in here the other day.

S. O'BRIEN: Is he funny?

M. O'BRIEN: Well, he's got this documentary, and, you know, he -- he doesn't like to fly. So he...

S. O'BRIEN: I did not know that.

M. O'BRIEN: Well, he got on the plane and flew from L.A. to Florida. That was tough enough for him. And then drove all the way up to Atlanta with various stops for standup comedy along the way. And through it all, it is a portrait of Ray in all of his strange foibles, insecurities and, frankly, announces. But it is actually hysterical.

So, we'll check in with him and give you a little glimpse of what happens when a guy and his former college roommate and an intern with a DV cam get into a minivan and start doing a road show.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: The opening bell just a few seconds away from ringing on Wall Street this morning.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

S. O'BRIEN: And welcome back, everybody.

M. O'BRIEN: Good to have you with us. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com