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American Morning
Questions Swirling About What Caused Congressman Patrick Kennedy's Car Accident; Defense Secretary on Defensive Again
Aired May 05, 2006 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Dana Bash on Capitol Hill, where questions are swirling about what caused Congressman Patrick Kennedy's car accident and whether he got special treatment. That story coming up.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: The defense secretary on the defensive again. This time it's not retired generals, just some well informed and some angry citizens.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: And some portray incendiary accusations from Vice President Dick Cheney reigniting memories of the cold war. We'll explain.
M. O'BRIEN: And "The Edge" of U2 fame picks up the torch for New Orleans. We're going to play this rare interview with or without you. We'd love you to stay with us on this AMERICAN MORNING.
Good morning.
I'm Miles O'Brien.
S. O'BRIEN: And I'm Soledad O'Brien.
Here's what's happening this morning.
On this 5th of may, Cinco-de Mayo, major immigration rallies are expected today in Montgomery, Alabama; in Richmond, Indiana; in Richmond, Virginia; and in the Santa Clara, California.
A hot meal and more hope for those trapped miners in Australia. Rescue crews are getting closer this morning to finally reaching them. They have been down there for more than 10 days.
CNN has learned that the Sudan government and a main rebel group have agreed to sign a compromise plan for the devastated Darfur region. That's according to the U.S. deputy secretary Robert Zoellick. No concrete agreement, though, on terms with the other rebel groups in the area.
And oil prices down in overnight trading. They've rebounded now, hovering around $70 a barrel, we're told. Get this. Iranian officials predict the price is going as high, maybe, as $120 a barrel.
M. O'BRIEN: April's unemployment numbers will be about -- out in about 30 minutes. It's expected to be good news for the Bush administration. Two hundred thousand jobs added this month. S. O'BRIEN: In Texas, severe storm warnings are expiring right now. Residents in Austin and others parts of the state saw hail of two inches in diameter.
And Congressman Patrick Kennedy involved in a car accident. He's blaming it on prescription drugs, not alcohol. Police say they saw him swerving. Some reports, though, that they were not allowed to investigate.
Let's get right to CNN Congressional correspondent Dana Bash.
She's live on Capitol Hill this morning -- hey, Dana, good morning.
BASH: Good morning, Soledad.
And law enforcement officials who were not there but briefed said that officers on the scene thought that he appeared intoxicated. But the congressman, late last night, issued a statement saying that he was not intoxicated. In fact, he says that what happened is that before he went to sleep that night, he took two prescription drugs, one Phenergan for nausea and also Ambien. And that, he said, caused him to be disoriented, wake up at 2:45 in the morning and drive to the Capitol thinking he needed to v. That is when the accident happened.
Now, he was, after that accident, instructed to park his car by an officer there and that officer drove him home. Now, that is with most controversial aspects of this story, because essentially he was, some might say, given preferential treatment in terms of what happened there.
Now, the congressman, late last night, leaving his office, said if he got special treatment, he didn't ask for it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUESTION: Why are you taken to court so many times? (ph)
REP. PATRICK KENNEDY (D), RHODE ISLAND: I'm sorry to keep you up so late.
QUESTION: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)?
KENNEDY: I have a statement that's been released and that's been all for tonight.
QUESTION: Congressman, do you think you got preferential treatment from the police?
KENNEDY: I never asked for any preferential treatment.
QUESTION: Do you think you received the treatment?
KENNEDY: That's up for the police to decide, and I'm going to cooperate fully with them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: Now, the congressman was not given a sobriety test on the scene. That is just one of the questions about whether special treatment was given or whether the procedure was followed. There is an investigation that was launched by the chief of police internally about what exactly happened -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Dana, it took 20 hours before we heard from the congressman.
Why -- do you know why it took so long to hear something from him?
BASH: Well, what his office says, his chief of staff, whom I talked to last night, says that they were just trying to get all the facts.
But you're right, we did not hear until late last night his explanation that, in fact, it was prescription drugs. And, in fact, that was second statement from the congressman. Earlier we just got a statement saying that he was not intoxicated, not anything about the prescription drugs.
Again, they say they were just trying to get their facts together, but they were huddled for hours, Soledad, in his office, advisers there, and, also, I can tell you, sort of around town, trying to get the statement exactly right. And it took a long time to do it.
S. O'BRIEN: Interesting strategy.
OK, Dana Bash for us this morning.
Dana, thanks.
Ahead in just a couple of minutes, we're going to talk with the person who first broke this story.
His name is John Mcardle.
Here's from rollcall.com, which, of course, is a Capitol online newspaper.
There he is.
We'll be chatting about the story a little more just ahead -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld taking some incoming from a hostile audience in Atlanta. At issue, those supposed weapons of mass destruction he and other Bush administration officials used as a pretext for invading Iraq.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You lied to the American people!
(INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You lied! You lied about the weapons (UNINTELLIGIBLE)! You lied!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get out of here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He lies and Iraq (UNINTELLIGIBLE)! You lied about everything. The CIA told you (UNINTELLIGIBLE)!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
M. O'BRIEN: Let's get more on this now from CNN's senior Pentagon correspondent, Jamie McIntyre -- Jamie, what's the Pentagon saying about this scene in Atlanta yesterday this morning?
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SENIOR PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, they're -- they're not making too much of it, Miles.
And, in fact, most of the crowd was fairly sympathetic to Rumsfeld and it probably would have just been a case of a few hecklers except for the very pointed questions that came from a former CIA analyst who had carefully checked his facts and then accused Rumsfeld of lying about the prewar intelligence.
Here's a little bit of that very pointed exchange.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RAY MCGOVERN, CIA ANALYST: Why did you lie to get us into a war that was not necessary and that has caused these kinds of casualties? Why?
DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: Well, first of all, I -- I haven't lied. I did not lie then.
I'm not in the intelligence business. They gave the world their honest opinion. It appears that there were not weapons of mass destruction there.
MCGOVERN: You said you knew where they were.
RUMSFELD: I did not. I said I knew where suspect sites were and we were just...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCINTYRE: OK, a quick fact check here, Miles.
Actually, Secretary Rumsfeld did say, "We know where they are" in a March 30, 2003 interview with ABC News. But he says now that what he was referring to were the sites.
He was also questioned about statements about bulletproof intelligence showing the links between al Qaeda and Iraq. He later explained that he asked the CIA for bulletproof intelligence that he could share with the American people and was given five or six sentences.
The bottom line is he insists that the U.S. government honestly believed that Saddam Hussein had those weapons of mass destruction. He says that's why troops that went in wore the chemical protection suits, he said at that speech in Atlanta, it's not because they just liked the style.
M. O'BRIEN: Interesting point.
You mentioned bulletproof, Jamie. You know, anybody who has watched Secretary Rumsfeld at a press briefing knows he is very careful in choosing his words and tries to offer up bulletproof sound bites.
In this case, not so, huh?
MCINTYRE: Well, you know, he is. He's very careful about selecting his words. You might notice in that bite we played he said it appears that were no weapons of mass destruction. Well, most people agree that weapons of mass destruction aren't there, Rumsfeld, in his own mind, is leaving the door open that maybe some day in the future they will still yet find those weapons and vindicate their original judgment.
M. O'BRIEN: Carefully parsed.
Thank you very much.
Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon.
And in Iraq, the U.S. military mocking the most wanted man there. Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is who we're talking about. He is the leader of Al Qaeda In Iraq, as you know.
Major General Rick Lynch -- you see him there -- showed some outtakes of last week's Web video from Zarqawi. Lynch says it shows Zarqawi having trouble firing a machine gun-and requiring help from an assistant to do just that -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: A CNN Security Watch now.
The House has approved a plan to screen nearly all inbound cargo for nuclear weapons or so-called dirty bombs. Right now, the Department of Homeland Security opens just about 6 percent of shipments. Lawmakers aim to be able to screen 65 percent of all goods by October and by a year later, they want to have 98 percent of all the goods to be checked.
Also included, the U.S. would spend about $1.2 billion enhancing security at ports around the world.
Be sure to stay tuned to CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security.
The cold war went on for more than 40 years, but are conditions now ripe for another deep freeze? The Kremlin fuming over very sharp criticism from the vice president, Dick Cheney.
Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DICK CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: In many areas of civil society, from religion and the news media to advocacy groups and political parties, the government has unfairly and improperly restricted the rights of the people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
S. O'BRIEN: Senior international correspondent Matthew Chance is live for us in Moscow this morning -- hey, Matthew, good morning.
What's the reaction been?
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
Well, as you might expect, there's been a very sharp reaction to what were, in effect, the strongest words of criticism we've heard come from any U.S. official over the past years about Russia. The Kremlin had an early response saying that it regarded Dick Cheney's remarks as subjective, saying they were full of inaccuracies and didn't adequately reflect the reality of the situation in the region.
But perhaps the most indignant response has come from the Russia media. Most of them are very angry at these remarks. The Russian official daily newspaper, "Rossiyskaya Gazeta," saying that "we are now being asked to deny ourselves and take orders from those who know better and will decide everything for us."
There is a very deep sense amongst ordinary Russians that the United States adopts a patronizing attitude toward them, how they conduct their country and how they conduct their foreign affairs. And certainly this speech from U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney hasn't done much to ease those concerns amongst Russians.
S. O'BRIEN: Those words a huge contrast to what we heard from President Bush himself back in 2001, when he said I can gaze into President Putin's soul and see he is a good man -- I'm sort of paraphrasing.
The relationship really been deteriorating since that time?
CHANCE: Absolutely. Back then, President Bush said he gazed into Vladimir Putin's eyes and saw a straightforward man and that he caught a sense of his soul. It was where, perhaps, relations between the United States and Russia were at an all time high, when they came together to cooperate to fight the war on terror.
But since then, a number of issues have come up and put distance between the two countries and the two leaders, particularly and most recently the issue of Iran. The United States, of course, wants strong action to be taken at the U.N. Security Council against Iran because of its controversial nuclear program. Russia has very close economic ties with that country and is the -- perhaps the main veto wielding country standing in the way of the United States getting its own way -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Matthew Chance for us this morning.
Matthew, thanks -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Happening right now in America, too many zeros at ground zero. New estimates for the World Trade Center Memorial are nearing now $1 billion. That's twice the original quote, by far the most expensive memorial ever built in America, it would be.
The defense of a Catholic priest accused of murder set to begin next hour in Toledo. Reverend Gerald Robinson could get life in prison if he is charged with killing a nun-over Easter weekend back in 1980.
Lewis "Scooter" Libby expected back in court today. He's Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff. Libby now finding himself at the center of that CIA leak probe. He's been charged with lying to authorities.
Massachusetts considering banning same-sex marriages. That's the state that first allowed such weddings back in 2003. The State Supreme Court heard arguments about a ballot question on that matter on Thursday. No word yet on when a decision will be announced.
And get out your fancy hats and fire up those mint juleps. The Kentucky Derby is tomorrow.
And there he is, "The Greatest," former boxing champion, world champion Muhammad Ali is the grand marshal for yesterday's Pegasus Parade, all part of the run-up to that big event in Louisville.
S. O'BRIEN: Let's get right to Chad.
He's got a look at the weather for us this morning -- hey, Chad.
MYERS: You know, I got an e-mail from Kentucky.
M. O'BRIEN: Uh-oh.
S. O'BRIEN: You did?
MYERS: Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: They're upset about your juleps?
S. O'BRIEN: I was going to say.
MYERS: They said that...
M. O'BRIEN: So we have... MYERS: ... the julep...
M. O'BRIEN: We have a julep recipe for you, right?
MYERS: The julep recipe -- the julep you had at the Kentucky Derby probably was awful, but here's the recipe.
S. O'BRIEN: Oh, that's nice.
MYERS: So. And if you want, I'll -- e-mail to me and I'll forward it to you. But it's one cup of boiling water, two cups of sugar.
M. O'BRIEN: Really?
MYERS: So you won't go wrong there.
M. O'BRIEN: Right.
S. O'BRIEN: (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
MYERS: A half a cup of mint leaves. Put that in the refrigerator overnight. Two cups of bourbon...
S. O'BRIEN: Whoo.
MYERS: One cup of that, chill overnight, pour it over ice, enjoy it all day.
M. O'BRIEN: All right, I'm going to try that.
Are you going to e-mail me the julep...
MYERS: Right.
M. O'BRIEN: ... or just the recipe?
That would be good, wouldn't it?
MYERS: Now, that would be...
M. O'BRIEN: If we could invent that...
MYERS: That will be an Internet, won't it? Yes. That'll be a money maker there.
(WEATHER REPORT)
MYERS: No weather in Kentucky tomorrow. Sixty-three and sunny. Fast track.
S. O'BRIEN: Just what they need.
M. O'BRIEN: Fast track.
MYERS: Steppenwolfer. S. O'BRIEN: Fantastic.
MYERS: Steppenwolfer wins.
M. O'BRIEN: Stepping...
S. O'BRIEN: Steppenwolfer?
M. O'BRIEN: Steppenwolfer.
MYERS: Steppenwolfer.
M. O'BRIEN: Really?
MYERS: He comes from eight lengths back, right on down the stretch. An exciting finish.
M. O'BRIEN: He was born to be wild, that Steppenwolfer, huh?
All right.
S. O'BRIEN: Thanks, Chad.
MYERS: You bet.
S. O'BRIEN: Ahead this morning, Congressman Patrick Kennedy's car accident. We've been talking about this all morning. He blamed prescription drugs. Police, though, never did a sobriety test. Did the congressman get special treatment? Let's investigate that.
M. O'BRIEN: And then about 20 minutes from now, heart wrenching testimony in the Sago mine hearings. We're going to talk to some of the relatives of those victims who were there and we'll ask them if they got the answers they wanted.
S. O'BRIEN: And then at 50 minutes past the hour, U2's "The Edge" in New Orleans. He'll talk about his plans to bring music back to that city. It's an interview you can only see on CNN.
We're back in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
M. O'BRIEN: A Kennedy in a car crash in the wee hours at the Capitol. An admission he was on prescription drugs at the time and some allegations he was treated preferentially by the Capitol police. It sounds like a story with legs, as we like to say in this business.
John Mcardle reported the story for the Capitol Hill newspaper, "The Roll Call" first.
He joins us now from Washington.
John, good to have you with us.
Patrick Kennedy, the son of Ted Kennedy, in the midst of all of this.
First of all, how did you find out about this?
It's interesting how this story kind of leaked out, isn't it?
JOHN MCARDLE, "ROLL CALL": Yes.
We were actually able to obtain a copy of the letter that the head of the police union sent to the acting chief of police asking for an investigation, to allow his officers to complete their investigation into the incident, which apparently they were not allowed to do yesterday morning at about 3:00 a.m.
M. O'BRIEN: So, all right, so the union, acting on behalf of rank and file officers making the allegation that higher-ups told them to squelch an investigation.
Is that essentially what they said?
MCARDLE: Yes, the acting head of the union, in his letter, his name is Greg Baird, in his letter to the acting chief of police, said that after the accident occurred and the officers had responded, two sergeants, two Capitol police sergeants, after conferring with the watch commander on duty, told the patrol units to leave the scene, that they were handling the scene, and apparently gave Mr. Kennedy a ride home. And the chief or the head of the union just wants his officers to be able to complete his investigation.
And according to a statement from the Capitol police last night, they are going forth with both an investigation into the accident itself and to how the accident was handled by the officers there.
M. O'BRIEN: OK. So a ride home from the police. That, in and of itself, is something you and I would not get. The other thing that...
MCARDLE: I don't think so.
M. O'BRIEN: The other thing that didn't happen, there was no -- and this would be routine for somebody at 3:00 a.m. in a single car crash into a barrier and then apparently staggering afterward, according to some reports, would be a field sobriety test.
And that didn't occur either, did it?
MCARDLE: No, and, actually, it's a little bit more than that. Apparently the officer who first sighted the congressman's car was almost hit by the congressman's car from -- according to the letter, according to the police statements. Apparently the congressman was driving without his lights on. The officer had to swerve to avoid the congressman. Turns around, follows the congressman's car.
At that point the accident happens. A security barrier is hit. The congressman gets out and is staggering and it goes from there.
M. O'BRIEN: OK. Let's get -- we have a brief quote from Congressman Kennedy as he left his office late last night.
Let's listen to him quickly here.
MCARDLE: Sure.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUESTION: Congressman, do you think you got preferential treatment from the police?
KENNEDY: I never asked for any preferential treatment.
QUESTION: Do you think you received the treatment?
KENNEDY: That's up for the police to decide, and I'm going to cooperate fully with them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
M. O'BRIEN: Interesting how he parses his words there. You've got to listen to that carefully. "I never asked for any preferential treatment," not denying that he received preferential treatment.
What do you think of that?
MCARDLE: Well, according to the police union chief's letter, what he was saying is he's allowing -- he wants his officers to be allowed -- or the officer himself, who originally was almost hit by the congressman, to be allowed to complete his investigation and issue any contentions that he thinks can be supported by some conclusions.
And, interesting, he said in his letter, "I believe that to do less would demean our agency and diminish confidence in our ability to enforce the law without fear or favor."
M. O'BRIEN: All right.
MCARDLE: Here's worried about the reputation of the Capitol Police Department.
M. O'BRIEN: All right, there you go.
We should put in this official statement, too, from Representative Kennedy.
Let's read that.
MCARDLE: Sure.
M. O'BRIEN: It took him a while to release this, but here we have it: "Apparently I was disoriented from the medication" he took. He was taking something for a stomach ailment, as well as Ambien. Both of them would make you drowsy. "At that time I was involved in a one car incident in which my car hit the security barrier and at no time before the incident did I consume any alcohol."
So -- but, of course, how -- we'll never know for sure, because there was no test taken, right?
MCARDLE: There was no field sobriety test issued. And the chairman of the labor unions is concerned that evidence might have lost because of how it was handled.
M. O'BRIEN: John Mcardle is with rollcall.com.
Thank you for your time.
MCARDLE: "Roll Call" newspaper.
Thanks, Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Oh, that, too.
Thank you very much.
Coming up in the next hour, medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen will tell us about the medications Congressman Kennedy says he was taking and whether that really could have been a volatile mix -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Ahead this morning, still lots of questions and not many answers in the Sago mine tragedy. Ahead, we're going to talk to some of the victims' relatives and get their take on the week's emotional hearings.
Then later, a rock and roll superstar's plan to bring music back to New Orleans. We're going to hear from U2's "The Edge" and it's an interview you'll hear only on CNN.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
S. O'BRIEN: Glenn Beck is one of the country's top radio personalities. He's got a syndicated show and it's heard daily on nearly 200 stations nationwide.
Well, now the talk show host is making his debut on "CNN HEADLINE NEWS."
Here's a little sample.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "GLENN BECK")
GLENN BECK, HOST, "GLENN BECK": Which one is more likely to be a terror suspect?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: See, this is where you get into this type of provocative, simplistic kind of...
BECK: Why? That's common sense.
By the way, A is on the most wanted terror list. B is not.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
S. O'BRIEN: Glenn Beck joins us from his studio in New York -- good morning.
Nice to see you.
BECK: Good to see you.
S. O'BRIEN: Thank you.
So tell me, what's the format of the show? What are you going to be talking about?
BECK: We have absolutely no idea. It's actually, you know, it's an entertaining look at the news, kind of a lighter look at the news. I mean it's not a comedy show, but it's -- I don't, you know, I know there are cable hosts out there that are looking out for u. That ain't me, man. I'm looking out for me.
We're just, you know, going to have some fun-and look at the daily news.
S. O'BRIEN: Does that mean that everything is up for grabs or are there things that you feel like off...
BECK: Oh, yes. No, we'll go from -- we'll go from, you know, nukes in Iraq right smack into Paula Abdul and what's happening on "American Idol."
S. O'BRIEN: You've said, obviously, as you well know, lots of controversial things.
For example, let's talk about what you said about the 9/11 families. You said basically this. Let's show -- throw the graphic up there for me. There we go.
You said this: "And when I see a 9/11 victim family on TV or whatever, I'm just like oh, shut up. I'm just so sick of them because they're always complaining. And we did our best for them."
You know, people are going to watching on TV.
Is this going to be the tone of the show, too?
BECK: Yes, what an interesting way to take a phrase out of context.
First of all, I said that at the fundraiser that I was holding for victims' families for Hurricane Katrina.
When you look at it in its entire context, what I was saying was in the context of this fundraiser, you have to stop looking at the people who are complaining on television.
In Hurricane Katrina, you have to stop looking at the people that are stealing the televisions because that -- those aren't the people. Those aren't real victims here of Hurricane Katrina. Those are the people that are trying to benefit from the tragedy.
And out of -- and the exact quote was, on the 9/11 victims, out of the 3,000 families, there's maybe three or four that you continually see on television that are using the tragedy for their own political agenda. And those people, I'm sick of hearing from because, honestly, I stopped at every stoplight after 9/11 and I dug into my wallet and I gave money until it hurt after there. I didn't have to give money to the 9/11 victims' families. I wanted to. And so did the rest of America.
We did our best for them and I hope we're continuing to do our best for them. But you've got to cut us some slack, as well. We made some mistakes.
S. O'BRIEN: Controversial, this show? Or do you think you're just going to run-the gamut from A to Z?
BECK: No, I -- not intentionally controversial. Honest. I mean whether you like my opinion or hate my opinion, it is my opinion and I'm not doing it to be controversial. I'm not doing it to hack anybody off. I mean we really hope to be entertaining.
I mean one of the reasons why I think that we're deemed controversial is because I say things -- much of what I say is cloaked in sarcasm and with comedy. And so those people who are used to a typical talk show look at it and say I can't believe he would say that.
Well, it's because I was joking.
S. O'BRIEN: Glenn Beck, good luck on your show.
BECK: Thank you.
S. O'BRIEN: It debuts on Monday.
BECK: You bet.
Bye-bye.
S. O'BRIEN: You can see Glenn Beck's show weeknights at 7:00 and 9:00 Eastern time on "CNN HEADLINE PRIME."
AMERICAN MORNING is back in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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