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American Morning

Former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling Ready to Take Stand; Spotlight on Laura; Keeping Taps on Pork Barrel Spending in Congress

Aired April 06, 2006 - 09:30   ET

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

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: And welcome back, everybody. Lots to talk about this morning.
The jurors in the Enron trial are going to get to hear a story today straight from the proverbial horse's mouth, so to speak. Former CEO Jeffrey Skilling ready to take the stand in his own defense.

CNN's Chris Huntington is live outside the courthouse in Houston.

Good morning.

CHRIS HUNTINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

We expect Jeff Skilling to take the stand this afternoon, and this will be direct examination, Soledad. So this is really the story that he wants to tell, and it's a story he's had a lot of practice telling. He's told it to the SEC. He's told it to Congress. He's even told it to many interviewers, including "LARRY KING LIVE." So this has been a fairly carefully choreographed exercise under direct examination by his own attorney. He's going to say that there was nothing at Enron. There was no funny accounting, that he never had any side deals with Andy Fastow. And basically everything was fine, and he's going to say there was a run on the bank, a crisis of confidence, that led to the collapse and that was it. And that's what he said. He's going to stick to it. It gets a little more interesting when cross-examination starts.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes, no question about that. You know, at the end of day. it really is all about credibility, isn't it, Chris? .

HUNTINGTON: It is. And it really is. It's all up to the way that he can relate to the jury. Jeff Skilling is a remarkably intelligent guy. Some people call him brilliant. He is renowned, frankly, though, for being a bit arrogant, for being cocksure. He showed that to Congress. He was very combative in his testimony before Congress. The legal experts say he really cannot afford to do that on the witness stand. He can't appear to the jury to be sort of a dictatorial CEO. He's got to ride a fine line between humility, but also confidence in the story that he's going to tell.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes, that's something that might work when you're talking to Congress members, but certainly not going work, I would imagine, for a jury. A lot at stake for him, isn't there?

HUNTINGTON: This is basically the whole enchilada for him. The prosecution has put on a very, very strong case, with half a dozen former Enron executives telling a very simple story, that there a culture of corruption there, and that Jeff Skilling and Ken Lay were in charge of it. He needs to come out and somehow obliterate that from the jury's radar scope, and get them to believe his story, that everything was basically fine, that he didn't know about any funny accounting, that he thought that everything would turn out just OK. It's a very, very high hurdle for him to clear.

S. O'BRIEN: Chris Huntington for us this morning outside the courthouse. Thanks, Chris.

(NEWSBREAK)

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: A very rare sight in Israel to tell you about. A tornado sweeping through western Gailee. There were about 70 injuries, none too serious. The big loss was to the fruit crop, 80 percent wiped out.

And here's an unusual sight of Sunday's destructive tornadoes, or one of them at least. This is a surveillance camera inside the Caruthersville, Missouri High School. Watch as the tornado comes in. Boom! Rips off the roof, suddenly a hallway -- and it's daylight. Amazing. More than half the town was destroyed as a result. The town did not have electricity or drinkable water until Wednesday.

In North Dakota the overflowing Red River, meanwhile is expected to crest in another location in the next couple of days. Grand Forks is expected to get a crest soon, 20 foot above floodstage. It's already crested in Fargo as we told you yesterday. But meteorologists say it will stay above the floodstage well into the next week.

(WEATHER REPORT)

S. O'BRIEN: Her influence is largely unseen, but according to a new book, the first lady is definitely a power player in the Bush White House. Bestselling author Ronald Kessler has written a new book. It's called "Laura Bush, an Intimate Portrait of the First Lady." He's joining us this morning. Nice to see you.

RONALD KESSLER, AUTHOR, "LAURA BUSH": Good to be here.

S. O'BRIEN: It's called an "Intimate Portrait," and then I read you never interviewed her. You don't sit down with her. How intimate could it be.

KESSLER: She's very modest. She doesn't really want to talk about herself that much. She doesn't even watch herself on TV. She won't use the personal pronoun in speeches, but she did give me total access to her friend, her aides, her family. They would call her in the White House. They would say, is it OK to talk? And most of these people who have never talked to the media before, including former boyfriends. I also interviewed the passenger who was with her when she had her fatal accident, when she was 17.

S. O'BRIEN: We'll talk more about that, because I'm curious to know how much that defined her. And you're right, I know from experience that she just does not like to do public appearances and things like that, unless she's talking about her true love, with books, teaching, things like that.

Let me ask you a little bit about her influence in the White House. People have long said that she's -- trend of support, obviously, to her husband, but goes further than that.

KESSLER: Yes, the administration actually formally presents possible personnel appointments, budget issues, policy issues to her if it's in areas that she's interested in.

And as far as her husband goes, of course, she sort of tones them down. They discuss policy issues all of the time, personnel issues all of the time. She has very good judgment. And a lot of times...

S. O'BRIEN: And they don't always agree.

KESSLER: No. She's actually pro-choice, by the way, but she will express her opinion in a very low-key way, unlike Hillary. She'll just roll her eyes, or she'll tease Bush. And so there's that constant influence going on and -- but it's very low key.

S. O'BRIEN: What's the most surprising thing you learned about her? And...

KESSLER: Well, I guess one thing is that she has this quirk when she's under stress. She'll start Windexing, or using spray Clorox, and things and cleaning out bookcases and that sort of thing. She was doing that last year when she was about to go to the Middle East, and there was a lot of turmoil there.

But what was really is surprising is I was able to totally get behind the scenes about what they talk about at the dinner table, what the twins talk about. What happened when Teresa Heinz Kerry made her nasty remark, I don't think Laura's ever had a real job.

You know, her -- yes, right, that was the remark, I don't think she's ever had a real job. That's what Teresa Heinz said. And I thought that the first lady's response, everyone sort of waited for the other shoe to drop, like, oh, what's she going to say, and she took a pass and had such a gracious response, I thought.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes, very classy, and that's exactly what she was saying at the dinner table that night. The twins were outraged. And one of them, Jenna, was saying, you know, what she was really saying is motherhood is worthless, and they were going on -- and Laura just took this positive approach. Well, I understand thing were taken out of context. She knew what was going on, but she just chooses to look at life in a positive way. So I see it as...

S. O'BRIEN: But, you know, you include this first visit to the Clinton White House, and this is what -- what she had to say after that visit. "Not only were the carpets and furnishings fraying and in disrepair in the West Wing and public areas, the Oval Office was done up in loud colors -- red, blue and gold. The East Wing was cut up into small offices and had exposed electrical conduits. Many of the furnishings looked dated." You know, oh, well, is that sort of a catty take on Hillary Clinton's White House? KESSLER: This was privately expressed, but there were so many differences between Laura and Hillary. Hillary actually fired a White House usher because he returned a call of Barbara Bush. This guy couldn't find a job for a year, he had four kids. Whereas Laura is respectful of the White House staff, treats the Secret Service with great respect. So the White House staff, at least, is very pleased that Laura is in the White House now.

S. O'BRIEN: The critics of your book say this is basically a love letter to the Bush administration and to Laura Bush.

KESSLER: Well, you know, it has things that she's not proud of, such as the fact that she smokes occasionally. She'll go out on the Truman balcony. And there are also sensitive things, such as that she had to take fertility medication to conceive the twins.

But, you know, if the critics think there's something sinister out there that Laura's involved in that I haven't found, I'd like to hear what it is. Because, you know, I think people want a refreshing, positive read sometimes. It's not puffery, it's real insight, behind the scenes anecdotes about what actually goes on in the White House.

S. O'BRIEN: Ronald Kessler, nice to see you. The book is called "Laura Bush: An Intimate Portrait of the First Lady."

Business news is straight ahead this morning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK

M. O'BRIEN: Well, in politics, pork can be a four-letter word, depending on where you sit on the aisle, I suppose. And a government watchdog group cites an array of outrageous spending in its annual pig book.

CNN's Tom Foreman takes a closer look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The number of pork projects dropped nearly a third over the past year, but the amount of tax dollars being spent on the pork that remains is higher than ever before.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE), that's it. Good boy.

FOREMAN: That according to Citizens against Government Waste.

TOM SCHATZ, CITIZENS AGAINST GOVT. WASTE: Twenty-nine billion dollars. That's 6.2 percent higher than last year's total of $27.3 billion.

FOREMAN: Once again, on top of the pig pile is Alaska. With Senator Ted Stevens' help, that state is pulling in $325 million for pet projects, including the Sea Otter Commission.

And other lawmakers push through their own spending plans. The International Fund for Ireland got $13 million, some of it going for the World Toilet Summit, in which widespread toilet use is encouraged. One million additional dollars was approved for the development of water-free toilets.

According to the report, Missouri got almost $6 million to relief traffic in Joplin, a town of only 50,000 people. Oregon welcomed $400,000 for a museum about two Chinese immigrants. Iowa rounded up a quarter million for its cattle Congress. Nevada knocked down a cool $100,000 for a boxing club. In North Carolina, a teapot museum got a half million. All money that critics say could have been much better spent.

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: The money taken from defense appropriations still remains the highest number and is still the most outrageous, because it diverts money from our national defense and the men and women who are serving and fighting and risking their lives.

FOREMAN (on camera): Still, all of these projects have defenders, people who say this money will promote the local economy or encourage jobs. The simple truth is almost no one calls it pork in his or her state.

(voice-over): For example, Louisiana is getting $100 million for energy and water projects. Critics say it has nothing to do with Katrina, but elected officials call it money well spent.

SEN. MARY LANDRIEU (D), LOUISIANA: Stop wasting money through FEMA, start rebuilding the Gulf Coast and give us money to restore our coast and build our levees, and then we can take care of the rest ourselves.

FOREMAN: But each year, the list goes on. $50,000 for a Tito Puente memorial project in New York, $600,000 for Abe Lincoln's bicentennial birthday. The critics all proved that in the nation's capitol, pork is still key.

Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

M. O'BRIEN: And I think -- first of all, you can see Tom's story on "ANDERSON COOPER." You saw it on "ANDERSON COOPER 360." Of course you saw it there last night, because you watched that before you tuned into us. But that Abe Lincoln bobblehead?

S. O'BRIEN: I like it.

M. O'BRIEN: Tom Foreman put it on eBay. So we can probably get it.

(MARKET REPORT)

S. O'BRIEN: Coming up next on AMERICAN MORNING, a case of life imitating art. We're going to take a look at a two-year-old movie that's finding new life all because of a debate over immigration.

That's ahead. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: It's a filmmaker's dream, really, two years after your movie's released, it's a hot commodity. Well, such is the case with a small independent film that deals with California's immigration issues.

And as CNN's Brooke Anderson tells us, it really is a case of life catching up with art.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROOKE ANDERSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You might say the 2004 film "A Day Without a Mexican" was a little before its time. The movie, released in 2004, took liberties in showing what would happen if Mexicans just disappeared.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Forget about parking your cars at valets. Forget about getting a glass of water at the restaurant. Forget about restaurants. If we don't find these Latinos, we're all in serious trouble.

YARELI ARIZMENDI, WRITER: I think a day without a Mexican is a very timely film now, and it's even more timely than it was in 2004, because things have exploded. The reality and the film match up.

ANDERSON: Yareli Arizmendi co-wrote and stars in "A Day Without a Mexican," along with her husband, the director, Sergio Arau. The similarities between their film and today's ongoing immigration debate are so striking there's been a renewed interest in the film.

ARIZMENDI: It's been quoted in articles and all of that, you know, this is like "A Day Without a Mexican," the film that was prophetic.

ANDERSON: In the movie, residents are left to fend for themselves after California's Mexican population goes missing, and ultimately on strike, similar to what really happened just days ago when tense of thousands of people ditched work and school to take part in protests against tougher immigration laws before Congress.

But Arizmendi says this legislation is simply misguided.

ARIZMENDI: They're contribution to the economy seems to be not accounted for, only the problems that they create, but not the wonderful things that they contribute as well.

ANDERSON: Arizmendi believes current legislation before Congress aimed at cracking down on legal immigrants might ultimately go farther than just creating "A Day Without a Mexican," but could also create a country without the millions who help make it tick.

Brooke Anderson, CNN, Hollywood.

(END VIDEOTAPE) M. O'BRIEN: Coming up at the top of the hour, the Daryn Kagan show.

And they're going to talk about this, Charlie. He makes a big impression on one little corner of the world, and you know, that's something we should all hope for, just make one little corner better and the world would be a better place. We'll tell you about him.

And the dogwoods and azaleas signal the start of the Masters. Live to Augusta this morning.

All of that coming up on CNN LIVE TODAY. And we're back with just a little more in a moment. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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