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American Morning

New Evidence; 'Back on Track'

Aired April 21, 2006 - 09:34   ET

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

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR New evidence in the rape investigation at Duke University. Police have searched the dorm rooms of the two suspects.
AMERICAN MORNING's Alina Cho is live in Durham now.

Alina, what do we know about the search? What are we hearing?

ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, as you know, we have known for a couple of days now that police actually conducted this search, but this morning, we are getting new information into exactly what they were looking for and what they found in the dorm rooms of these two suspects.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHO (voice-over): Just hours after suspects Collin Finnerty and Reade Seligmann arrived at a Durham jail in handcuffs, police were searching Finnerty's dorm room on the Duke campus. A copy of the search warrant reveals officers were looking for photos or videos of the lacrosse party, clothing worn on the night of the alleged attack, even a white high heeled shoe the accuser said she lost when she left the house.

What they seized, a news article and an envelope addressed to Finnerty from his girlfriend in Boston. It's not known how the items might be connected to the case.

Defense attorneys say Finnerty and Seligmann are innocent and were not at the off-campus home at the time of the alleged rape. A potential key witness, cab driver Moez Mostafa, who now says he made not one, but two trips to the home in the early morning hours of March 14th.

His first trip, he says, was to pick up Reade Seligmann. Less than an hour later, around five minutes after 1:00, a.m., Mustafa says he was back to transport four other players. When he arrived...

MOEZ MOSTAFA, CAB DRIVER: I saw a bunch of people outside the house, on the right side, on the left side.

CHO: Mostafa says he noticed what he called some kind of trouble, and overheard one of the players talking about either the accuser or her friend.

MOSTAFA: I hear one guy, he said, she just a stripper. CHO: News of the alleged rape has not stopped thousands of Duke alumni from returning to their alma mater. It's reunion weekend. Bucky Fox went to Duke Law School. He's here for his 40th reunion, and says he is not worried about how all of this will affect the university's reputation.

BUCKY FOX, DUKE ALUMNI: I still get calls from parents and friends who want their kids to go to Duke, and they want to know if I can help them in that process, so that tells me there's still an awful lot of kids who'd love to come to Duke.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTS: Obviously still a lot of support for Duke University. Alina, we've been hearing about another round of DNA results.

What can you tell us?

CHO: Well, that's right. A lot about these second round of DNA tests, John. We've been hearing that those results are going to come back very soon, but so far, no results that we know of.

On another front, we should mention that the grand jury will be meeting back here in a little more than a week or so. They could hear evidence that could lead to a third arrest.

And as for the suspects, John, they will be back in court on May 15th.

ROBERTS: All right. Alina Cho in Durham for us this morning. Thanks for that -- Betty.

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, the senior senator from Massachusetts has seen it all. In his 40-plus years in the Senate, now Edward Kennedy says the nation has lost its way, and in his new book reveals his vision for getting America back on track.

Senator Kennedy Johns us now this morning.

SEN. EDWARD KENNEDY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: Good morning. Thank you very much.

NGUYEN: Thanks for being with us today.

KENNEDY: Thank you very much. Glad to be here.

NGUYEN: Your book, "America Back on Track." What's it going to take to get America back on track? Because as you know, this week there was a shakeup at the White House. Is that a step in the right direction?

KENNEDY: Well, I think in the second term of presidents usually there's a shake-up of personnel, and we really won't know unless we see the new directions.

And the most important, obviously, is Iraq. That's the overwhelming issue of our time, and I think since we've had a reaffirmation by the president on Secretary Rumsfeld, it's really unlikely. It seems that we're going to continue just to stay the course there, and I think there has to be, must be a change in direction in this year.

But I think what this book is really about, is about redefining our vision here at home and around the world. At other times, the United States was really responding to our problems here at home and leading the world. For example, the dramatic escalation of gasoline prices that every citizen...

NGUYEN: Something that is hitting every single person.

KENNEDY: Every person here. And to follow some of the themes of that book, the president ought to have the leading oil companies in the White House jawboning him, those leaders, about asking what they're doing to try to get a handle on prices. He ought to be directing the Federal Trade Commission to do an investigation to find out if it's price gouging, and he ought to send to the Congress legislation that is going to provide additional kinds of taxes for excess profits by the gas companies, return to working families. Those are things that could be done.

NGUYEN: So you don't think enough is being done then?

KENNEDY: Those are things that could be done, rather than just saying look, we've got a problem. The question is, are we going deal with the challenges that we're facing here at home. And I think the gasoline issue is something that is out there, and we have virtually no action by the White House. There's a great deal that the president could do in leading the country to do something that is affecting every motorist in the country today.

NGUYEN: Well, let's go back to Iraq and Secretary Rumsfeld. As you know, those six generals called for his resignation, possibly seven now. What are you saying about this? Is it warranted?

KENNEDY: Well, I think, first of all, it's unique in American history that we have had this number of generals in very responsible positions that have all reached a common theme about the mismanagement of the war.

First of all, you had the series of generals that advised the Armed Services Committee and the Senate not to go to war. Those were General Zinni, General Hore (ph), the Marine Corps, General Nash, who had been involved in Gulf War one. So you had combat veterans, all who took a different position than the civilians, and they said if you go to war, this is what you're going find out, and we have seen this growth of this extraordinary insurgency.

Now we find we're involved in the war that seems to be never- ending, with the administration indicating we're going to have more of the same, and you have the generals who had served in the war finding out the same kinds of both misinformation, lack of planning, unwillingness to take recommendations, and that's a rather fierce indictment, and it seems to me that it calls for new leadership in the Defense Department, and most importantly a new policy.

It's time to bring our servicemen home from Iraq. You have to change the mix in Iraq. They have fought bravely and gallantly. They've done what they were supposed to do, and I think that what General Abizaid, General Casey have stated, and that is, our large presence in Iraq is helping to incite the insurgency rather than to quell it.

NGUYEN: I wanted to talk to immigration reform with you, but we're simply out of time. There's so many questions.

KENNEDY: I hope you get a chance to look through the book. It's...

NGUYEN: "America Back on Track."

KENNEDY: Gives you some ideas on some of these big issues.

NGUYEN: And there are critical challenges in there that folks can read about, too.

KENNEDY: That's exactly right.

NGUYEN: Senator, we appreciate your time.

KENNEDY: Thank you very, very much. Nice to see you.

NGUYEN: And when we come back, Andy's "Minding Your Business." That is just ahead, right here on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MARKET REPORT)

NGUYEN: "CNN LIVE TODAY" is coming up. Tony Harris, my partner on the weekend, is in today for Daryn Kagan.

How you been, Tony?

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Oh, up there in New York, are you?

NGUYEN: I'm having a good time, miss you, though.

HARRIS: Enjoying life in the big city. Oh, you miss me now? Good. Good. Good. Coming up on "CNN LIVE TODAY," pain at the pump, you know about the high costs, but what do you need to worry about in terms of shortages? We'll look at the big picture.

And Hurricane Katrina evacuees are going home, but not stay. We'll talk to one Atlanta pastor, who is helping them get to the polls on time.

Those stories and more on coming up at the top of the hour on "CNN LIVE TODAY."

Betty, back to you. NGUYEN: looking forward to it, Tony -- John.

ROBERTS: You had better bring him back a press friend New York City, young lady.

HARRIS: There you go. That's what I'm talking about.

NGUYEN: If I don't I'm going to be in trouble.

ROBERTS: Absolutely.

NGUYEN: So you didn't have to hear that, though, really.

HARRIS: John, good looking out.

ROBERTS: All right, see you soon, Tony.

HARRIS: OK.

ROBERTS: Still to come, musician Wynton Marsalis joins us live. We're going to ask him about his new musical project to help his native New Orleans recover. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra gearing up for their big concert on Sunday in the Big Easy. For the first time, Marsalis and his ensemble will perform "Congo Square," new music named for the historic venue for where the concert is going to take place there in heart of New Orleans. It's part of the effort to help those devastated by candidate.

And Wynton Marsalis joins us now from Congo Square in New Orleans.

Good to see you, Wynton.

WYNTON MARSALIS, JAZZ MUSICIAN: All right, good to be seen, John. How are you doing?

ROBERTS: Very good, thanks.

Wynton, it has been said that if people are the heart of New Orleans, then music is its soul. How is that soul doing these days?

MARSALIS: Well, we're spread out, musicians are spread out, but believe me, we bring New Orleans with us wherever we go, and there's still a lot of people home. We're going have a second line (ph) parade, and we are teaching some young kids today. So you know, music is just a part of being a New Orleanean.

ROBERTS: Right.

Tell me about Congo Square, it's historical significance and its significance in the music that you'll be presenting there. MARSALIS: Well, Congo Square was the only place in all of America that the African slaves could still play the drums and play their music, and it also was significant as a marketplace, because in Louisiana, down in this region, the Africans could come and sell goods on Sunday. Now over 140-something years, the people became American. There were a lot of Native Americans, influence of the French, and the playing and the feeling of community that permeated Congo Square continued, and it infused New Orleans with the wonderful spirit that we have, and that Spirit of New Orleans was then transferred to the rest of the country.

ROBERTS: Right.

And how did you try to capture in your new piece, "Congo Square," which you're debuting this Sunday.

MARSALIS: Well, first, our piece is about the integration of cultures. The Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra and Odada the Group (ph), led by the master drummer Yaku Adi (ph), and we deal with the whole feeling of community. And it's one thing that Katrina brought to our attention is just how important community is. So we have pieces about women, about men, old folks, and then what we do, musicality.

And then we have a section called war, where our two ensembles fight each other, and then we come back in a section called peace. So we create a feeling of community and also of celebration.

ROBERTS: Right. You know, I was down there during the hurricane and after, and I saw just how strong some of those communities are.

This concert on Sunday on in Congress Square is going to be the culmination of a week-long series of events. What do you think that this residency program that you've been engaged in for the last few days has done to help restore the cultural vibe to New Orleans?

MARSALIS: Well, I think we -- Jazz at Lincoln Center, we always comes in the same spirit. We believe that jazz makes the world a better place. We come with the spirit of virtuosity, which means how we use our sophistication and our intelligence, of integration, and we come together and help. We're here to help. We're all one thing.

And education, which means that, you know, we're teaching kids, and we're bringing the knowledge and information, and we're helping all the other local people who do the same thing.

ROBERTS: Right.

Wynton, you're on two commits to help rebuild the cultural life there in New Orleans. How's progress going so far?

MARSALIS: Well, I think we've done all of our paperwork. We have our plans in place. Now it's just a matter of us figuring out where we're going to go.

Of course you know we have a mayoral election that's going to take place tomorrow, and it's going to determine the outcome of a lot of things.

And in fact, the Lieutenant Governor Landrieu, actually helped to support this project of Congo Square, and everyone in the city is working together. The mayor's office -- Ray Nagin is the mayor -- they've worked to help us come in and do what we're doing, so it's going to be interesting to see what the outcome of the election is.

ROBERTS: So who's going win the mayoral race tomorrow.

MARSALIS: Hey, I don't know. Landrieu told me, stay out of politics. I don't know. I don't know who's going to win.

ROBERTS: That's good advice. Wynton Marsalis, thanks for being with us. Appreciate it.

MARSALIS: All right, thank you very much.

ROBERTS: Take care now.

MARSALIS: More of AMERICAN MORNING right after this. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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