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American Morning
Fallout Over Your Phone Records; Much Anticipated 'Da Vinci Code' Debuts at Cannes Film Festival
Aired May 17, 2006 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Fallout over your phone records. A special briefing for Congress today on the NSA's massive phone call database, while phone companies must deal with some pretty unhappy customers.
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Dan Lothian in Amesbury, Massachusetts. Flood victims are waking up this morning seeing the sunshine and damage. But is the worst over?
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: I'm Barbara Starr at the Pentagon. Do the new 9/11 tapes showing the attack on this building answer any questions? Coming up.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: The roads are filled with rage, but which city is the worst when it comes to sharing the road?
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: And the much anticipated "Da Vinci Code" debuts at the Cannes Film Festival. The early buzz ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING.
Good morning. Welcome back, everybody. I'm Soledad O'Brien.
ROBERTS: And I'm John Roberts in Miles O'Brien this morning. I guess the early reports out of Cannes were...
O'BRIEN: Oh, very ugly. But That was journalists. Sometimes we can be pretty cynical.
ROBERTS: Tough group of people.
O'BRIEN: Yes, maybe, maybe. We'll see how regular viewers like it.
We begin, though, with a CNN Security Watch. Your phone records and the National Security Agency's domestic spying program. Verizon joining BellSouth now in denying they gave the NSA phone records from its customers, and word of a class-action lawsuit is swirling around the controversy.
Let's get to right White House correspondent Ed Henry and business correspondent Carrie Lee. They've got with more on this.
Carrie, hey, good morning.
Hey, Carrie, I'm going to stop you there because we're having a little difficulty with your audio, so let's get that fixed where you are, and let's bring in Ed Henry, who's at the White House for us.
Hey, Ed, thanks for stepping in from the White House.
What's going on?
ED HENRY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
This, an abrupt about-face from the White House. They've agreed today to brief the full House and Senate intelligence committees about the president's controversial domestic-surveillance program. For months they've been insisting it was good enough to just let a select few members of Congress to be brought in to learn about some of the details of this domestic-spying program, but the White House has reversed course just one day before we're expected to be fairly contentious hearings for General Michael Hayden, their pick to lead the Central Intelligence Agency. There's obviously a connection. The White House trying to take some of the sting out of those hearings that are coming up. Kickoff tomorrow in the Senate Intelligence Committee.
The president himself, in fact, yesterday joined this pushback campaign event in a press conference with the Australian President John Howard. The president was pressed on the legality of the surveillance program. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: What I have told the American people is we'll protect them against an al Qaeda attack. And we'll do so within the law. I've been very clear about the principles and guidelines of any program that had been designed to protect the American people. I've also been clear about the fact that we do not listen to domestic phone calls without court approval.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HENRY: The president added the administration was criticized for not connecting the dots prior to 9/11 to prevent those terror attacks, and now they're trying to connect the dots and they're taking flak anyway. The White House is confident that since this program shows them to be fighting terrorism, they can push back against the Democratic attacks, but the Democrats have some standing here, because it's not just them. There are some senior Republicans, like Senator Arlen Specter, who raised sharp questions about both the legality and the constitutionality of the surveillance program. General Hayden is going to get some very tough questions about it -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Yes, one would imagine. And this about-face, as you call it, from the White House, that really has to be indicative of a concern about what's six months away, you know, the midterm elections.
HENRY: Absolutely. You know, the White House still says privately, look, they believe that as long as the president is out there and saying this program is fighting terrorism, that in the end is going to help them in the midterm elections, but the problem as I noted with senior Republicans raising questions about the legality, raising questions about whether or not civil liberties of Americans are being violated, that's going to makes that argument a lot tougher for this White House -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Ed Henry at the White House this morning. Ed, thank you very much.
Let's take to you back to Carrie Lee in the newsroom, see if we've got our audio difficulties fixed.
Hey, Carrie.
CARRIE LEE, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Soledad, I think we're straightened out here.
O'BRIEN: There we go.
LEE: Yes, good.
OK, now we've heard from that side. Now let's talk about what the big phone companies are saying. And we've heard from all of them, mentioned in that "USA Today" report from last week at this point. First of all, from Verizon, saying, "One of the most glaring and repeated falsehoods is the assertion that Verizon was approached by the NSA and entered into an arrangement to provide the NSA with data from its customers' domestic calls." So that's from Verizon.
BellSouth meanwhile saying, quote, "We have confirmed no such contract exists, and we have not provided bulk customer calling records to the NSA."
AT&T weighing in, more of a policy statement here saying, "AT&T does not allow wiretapping without a court order, nor has it otherwise given customer information to law enforcement authorities."
Also we have former Qwest chief Joseph Nacchio, saying his company was approached by the NSA, but didn't give records.
And finally, just going back to that "USA Today" statement, they say, "Sources told us that BellSouth and Verizon records are included in the database."
"USA" originally quoting sources with direct knowledge of the arrangement. So "USA Today" not naming names.
Potentially the disconnect coming here from the NSA could have possibly requested calling data from long-distance companies, like AT&T, Sprint and MCI, but not from the local carriers just mentioned, so that's one possibility -- John and Soledad.
ROBERTS: Yes, there seems to be an extreme parsing of words here.
O'BRIEN: Oh, yes.
ROBERTS: Yes. More on this story next hour. We're going to talk with a public interest attorney who is suing the phone companies for $200 billion over the allegations that there's data mining of telephone numbers by the NSA.
They're calling it "a day of action." Pro-immigration groups from at least 20 states planning to rally today on Washington's Mall today. At least one person is hoping that the demonstration has a little bit of effect on lawmakers -- or little effect on lawmakers, as Deputy White House counsel -- did I say that? That's Deputy White House Chief of Staff Karl Rove. He is set to address the House Republican conference this morning. Rove wants conservative Republicans to accept President Bush's guest worker plan.
O'BRIEN: And some relief this morning in New England. Floodwaters there starting to recede there, but dams at the breaking point. In New Hampshire, more evacuations have been ordered, while in Massachusetts, some of the 2,500 evacuees are just starting to return to their water-logged homes.
AMERICAN MORNING's Dan Lothian in Amesbury, Massachusetts, near the New Hampshire border.
Hey, Dan. Good morning.
LOTHIAN: Good morning, Soledad.
Well, most of the dams across northern New England officials were concerned about have been given the all-clear, but the dam behind me, the Millyard (ph) Dam along the Pow Wow (ph) River, there's still some concern here. Engineers are keeping a close eye on it. And about half of the downtown area, which has homes and businesses, has been evacuated.
Meantime, the sun is out. Flood victims are waking up this morning seeing that sunshine, assessing the damage and beginning the cleanup.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LOTHIAN (voice-over): The storm that fueled this raging river and pushed an aging dam to its breaking point also took a swing at Phillip and Donna Silverio, and didn't miss.
(on camera): It's hard to believe.
DONNA SILVERIO, METHUEN RESIDENT: Yes, it is. I would never think that this water would overtake our property like this, but water you cannot fight. It's going to do it thing, and that's it. There's nothing you can do about it.
LOTHIAN (voice-over): The Silverios live and work along the Merrimack River in Methuen. They bought this engraving and silkscreening business seven years ago, and finished building their new home next door late last year.
PHILLIP SILVERIO, METHUEN RESIDENT: We love it here, you know.
LOTHIAN: But the storm changed the landscape.
(on camera): You're just watching things float by?
D. SILVERIO: Oh, yes. Doors, gates. I actually watched a wooden bench that my son had made for me.
LOTHIAN: Just floated away?
D. SILVERIO: Just floated away.
LOTHIAN (voice-over): Water has become the centerpiece, outside and in.
P. SILVERIO: Water was up to here.
LOTHIAN: Down in the basement, where the couple's expensive silk-screening machines and materials are kept...
P. SILVERIO: See the screens in the water? Some of them are no good.
LOTHIAN: ... water is still pouring in. It's about two feet deep.
P. SILVERIO: This is terrible. This is unbelievable. There's stuff floating all over the place.
LOTHIAN: His initial effort to hold off the river with a dirt barrier and a small pump failed.
P. SILVERIO: Yes, got to pump it as we were taking stuff out. Just -- it just came too fast.
LOTHIAN: Now the Silverios are using two large pumps to dry out their business so they can reopen, and two smaller units are running in the lower level of their home.
P. SILVERIO: All I can do is just keep pumping and hope for the best, hope my pumps outlast the river.
LOTHIAN: His wife tries do a little business on the phone.
D. SILVERIO: I'm on a generator right now. I'm lucky I've even got a computer.
LOTHIAN: They're taking care of each other, and for the time being, ignoring the potential price tag of the damage.
D. SILVERIO: We are not thinking of that right now.
LOTHIAN: One thing they do know...
D. SILVERIO: We're going anywhere. We'll just have to take a little more precautions. P. SILVERIO: No. We're not going to move. What are you going to do? You live on the water. You have to accept it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LOTHIAN: Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney pointed out yesterday at a press conference that it is amazing that there were no casualties, no serious injuries. However, there is a case of a 59- year-old New Hampshire man who was in Massachusetts. His body was found submerged in a car on a road that was closed. It's believed that he was trying to drive across that flooded road and didn't make it -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: That's what Chad says. It's always what kills people, when they go outside in these kinds of things.
Dan Lothian for us this morning. Dan, thanks.
It's fires, not floods that are creating big problems for some people along Florida's east coast. Sections of Interstate 95 in Volusia County closed again this morning. That is until about two hours from now. One fire blowing smoke across the highway is 65 percent contained.
(WEATHER REPORT)
(NEWSBREAK)
O'BRIEN: "The Da Vinci Code" makes its world premier. The first reviews are in. We're going to tell you what critics are saying this morning.
ROBERTS: Yes, some of them not being too kind this morning.
O'BRIEN: No. No, they're not.
ROBERTS: Also ahead, feel like you're going to explode every morning on your way in to work? We'll tell you which city has the worst road rage in America.
O'BRIEN: And then later, Tom Cruise under fire from Marie Osmond?
ROBERTS: Say it ain't so.
O'BRIEN: We'll explain, just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. We're back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(NEWSBREAK)
ROBERTS: It is one month today since a deadly suicide bombing in Tel Aviv, Israel. It's hard to express the scope of such a tragedy. The story resonates with a lot of people here in this country because of one of the victims, a 16-year-old boy from Southern Florida. Carol Costello is live in the newsroom now with that story.
Good morning, Carol.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, John. Good morning to all of you.
It was April 17th when a Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up for God, he said. The Palestinian president condemned the killing. The newly elected Hamas government defended it. American Daniel Wolf died in it. He was visiting Israel with his parents. He died on mother's day. He was honored this week in Jerusalem.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO (voice-over): Sixteen-year-old Daniel Wolf returned to Florida Tuesday, his parents by his side, his father still limping from the attack. It happened last month in Tel Aviv. A suicide bomber walked into a restaurant, blew himself up, killing 10 other people. Daniel was sitting with his father, wearing this shirt, pockmarked by shrapnel.
For 28 long days, Daniel Wolf waged his own fight, a fight to live. And then on Sunday, his body just gave out.
TULY WULTZ, FATHER: I said to him that I was honored to be his father, as honored, privileged and lucky to be his father. Then he took his last breath.
COSTELLO: Of course, Daniel's father was not alone in his love for his son. Hundreds gathered to remember him as a devout teenager, who even had a rabbi on speed dial.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We will always remember Daniel.
COSTELLO: That followed another emotional memorial service in Jerusalem, where the U.S. ambassador to Israel laid a folded American flag on top of Daniel's coffin. Daniel's father says his son's death will not be in vain.
WULTZ: Daniel's message is love, just love everybody. He didn't care, color, race, religion, nothing. He just loved people.
COSTELLO: Daniel had another passion, basketball. He was a big fan of the Miami Heat. And before last night's game, a moment of silence. Daniel's picture on the large video screen over the court.
ANNOUNCER: The Miami Heat send our Condolences to the Wultz family.
COSTELLO: As Daniel fought for his life, his classmates donned handmade bracelets, hoping to take them off when Daniel returned home. Sadly, they did.
(END VIDEOTAPE) COSTELLO: It's not much comfort for the family, but Israeli forces reportedly killed the suspected mastermind behind the attack. It was part of an operation this past weekend in the West Bank.
Back to you, John.
That's really a terrible story. Carol, thanks very much -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Coming up this morning, going to take a look at why some Republican voters could be the biggest election threat to Republican candidates come November.
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Alino Cho. Shock radio is shocked. A New York deejay is arrested and charged for comments he made over the airwaves. So when do offensive remarks turn into criminal activity? I'll have that story when AMERICAN MORNING returns.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOM HANKS, ACTOR: "Truthian (ph) Man," it's one of Leonardo Da Vinci's most famous sketches.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: And the star on his skin?
HANKS: The pentacle.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: And it's meaning?
HANKS: The pentacle is a pagan religious icon.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: Devil worship.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: "The Da Vinci Code" makes its big debut. The world premiere is today, on day one of the Cannes Film Festival. Some in the media, though got a sneak peek at the finished product, including CNN's own entertainment correspondent Brooke Anderson. She joins us by phone from Cannes.
Hey, Brooke, good morning to you. How is it? Did you love it? Did you hate it?
BROOKE ANDERSON, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Soledad.
And you know, I really -- I hate to have to say this. Because I know...
O'BRIEN: Uh-oh, that's always a bad start.
ANDERSON: ... because I know that a lot of people are looking forward to this film, as was I, but while there were some lukewarm opinions, most of the critics who saw the film last night are panning the movie. In fact, there are some pretty scathing reviews, Soledad.
The consensus among many is that it's dull, that it's painfully long at two-and-a-half hours. Some said it was disjointed, that there was no connection and -- you know, this is a stark contrast to the book, which for millions of readers was a fun, adventurous scavenger hunt. After the movie, many critics raced out of the theater to begin writing their reviews, and those that have begun publishing, that have been published today, are mostly highly critical and pretty negative.
The fact is, Soledad, the film, which by the was about a $125 million film, had impossibly high expectations, and I think it would be difficult for any movie to live up to that hype.
O'BRIEN: Yes, but at the same time, critics running out of the theater so that they can type their bad review? That is sort impossibly low, you know, as things go.
Let me ask you a question though, the protests, do you think they had an impact at all on the reception? And also, do you think at the end of the day it's going to matter what the critics think? There have been many films of course that did just fine after the critics panned them.
ANDERSON: Exactly. I think this film will go on to make millions of dollars, probably will be a blockbuster, because the simple fact is book was a bestseller. Millions and millions of people loved the book, and will be curious to see the movie, no matter what the critics say.
As far as protests, everything here is running very smoothly. No organized protests that we've seen. Security is really tight. And it seems that the cast and the crew of "The Da Vinci Code," who arrived from London yesterday, they seemed to be pretty unfazed by the whole thing. And they're mostly brushing off the worldwide controversy, and that Christians everywhere are denouncing it. They're saying that this film is a work of fiction, that it's a thriller, that it is not any type of religious or historical documentary, and they don't want anyone to take it in such a way.
O'BRIEN: Brooke Anderson joining us from Cannes with a little phoner, give us some insight.
Thanks, Brooke. Appreciate it.
The war of words that you just heard Brooke referring to between Hollywood really and some Christian groups, specifically one Catholic group called "Opus Dei," is portrayed in the film as the villain. What exactly is Opus Dei? If you're not familiar, Delia Gallagher has a rare look inside the group.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: Witness the biggest cover up in human history. DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At the center of the controversy, a real life group called "Opus Dei,: unwillingly cast as the villains in Brown's book, and brought to life on film by an evil bishop, and a killer monk who lurks in shadows and whips himself bloody.
But what is Opus Dei?
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: Demons. Codes. Monks.
GALLAGHER: Opus Dei describes itself as a Catholic organization whose mission to enable people to serve god through work and every day life. But in "The Da Vinci Code," brown describes it as a deeply devout catholic sect, a brainwashing cult and secret society.
From the first page of the book, brown sets the stage for the tale of conspiracy inside its $47 million headquarters on Lexington Avenue.
This is the actual building. It's 17 stories tall, with separate entrances for men and women.
Inside, separate facilities divide male and female members, called "numeraries." They make a lifelong commitment to celibacy and to living in an Opus Dei residence.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
S. O'BRIEN: If you want more for Delia's look inside Opus Dei, you can go to "PAULA ZAHN NOW," tonight at 8:00 p.m. Eastern.
ROBERTS: A New York deejay thinks that he is pushing the envelope. The New York D.A. thinks that the deejay is threatening a 4-year-old girl. Now as AMERICAN MORNING's Alina Cho reports, the criminal courts will listening to the words of Deejay Star and trying to decide if what he said is a crime.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHO (voice-over): When Howard Stern does it...
HOWARD STERN: So the bottom of your (EXPLETIVE DELETED) cheeks hangs out of the booty shorts?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
CHO: When syndicated radio duo Opie and Anthony do it...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get a lawyer and shut up.
CHO: They get fired, and then rehired.
But shock radio is truly shocked by what's happening to New York's Deejay Star.
D.J. STAR: You're looking at the new Lenny Brooks. CHO: Star's fans call him (ph) is not only out of a job for what he said, he's charged with a, crime for making threats over the airwaves against a rival deejay, that deejay's wife and 4-year-old daughter.
D.J. STAR: Yes, I disrespected your seed. If you didn't hear me, I said I would like to do an R. Kelly on your seed -- on your little baby girl."
CHO: Doing a "R. Kelly" is a reference to the R&B singer's alleged crime, having sex with underage girls.
GIA CASEY, WIFE OF DJ ENVY: And now what I'm really worried about is that what's he going to do now that he's fired? Is he going to carry out on these threats?
CHO: Star's lawyer says he never intended to threaten anyone. The radio station that fired him is apologizing to those who may have been offended by his remarks. The arrest is topic A on talk radio.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We saw a colleague of ours in radio talk industry get cold busted, booked and then bailed out.
CHO: Ron Kuby, half of the "Curtis and Kuby Radio Show," is a civil rights attorney.
RON KUBY, WABC'S CURTIS & KUBY PROGRAM: There are many things that are said in the United States that are vile, despicable, shouldn't be said, should never be said, but the First Amendment protects that type of speech.
CHO: Kuby says if listeners are really offended, they can change the channel. Star's show was popular.
TOM TAYLOR, INSIDERADIO.COM.: That's part of his act. That's Part of his appeal. He's a bad boy.
CHO: Tom Taylor, editor of industry newsletter "Inside Radio," says rivalry among deejays is common. That radio personalities, fueled by the popularity of Stern, are well aware controversy drives ratings and revenues.
TAYLOR: The thing that Star got into really is about competitiveness. It's about respect in his world and competitiveness.
CHO (on camera): It's no secret that shock sells. Radio personalities like Star and Stern make tens of millions of dollars, because what they say, no matter how offensive, is keeping listeners tuned in.
Alina Cho, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: Hundreds of millions in Howard Stern's case.
Coming up a look at why party faithful could pose big problems for Republic candidates in the upcoming midterm elections.
Plus we'll have this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You will not make money on gas. You have to make something else in your facility, location, to make it profitable for you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Ahead, a look at why high gasoline prices are painful for both drivers and gas station owners.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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