Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

Mexico's President Says Building a Wall around the Border is Not the Answer; Bin Laden Says in Newly Released Tape Zacarias Moussaoui Had Nothing to do With 9/11 Attacks

Aired May 24, 2006 - 06:00   ET

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

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert making the rounds in Washington. On his agenda today, a speech before congress. Yesterday, Olmert met with President Bush to discuss the Mideast peace process. Mr. Bush said Olmert's West Bank withdrawal plan could be a step toward peace.
Mexico's president Vicente Fox addresses the Utah legislature today. Some protests are expected from a group opposing illegal immigration. President Fox later heads to Washington State, going to talk immigration with the governor and local farm workers there.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: They're still looking for Jimmy Hoffa's remains in Michigan. And today the FBI will tear down a barn on that horse farm where agents began searching for Hoffa's remains about a week or so ago. Authorities want to search the barn's foundation. Let's check the forecast now. Chad Myers at the CNN Center with that.

(WEATHER REPORT)

MILES O'BRIEN: Thank you very much Chad. The immigration debate still boiling over this morning. A big focus today, making employers more responsible for the people they hire. In the senate, there's a new amendment to the immigration bill that would slap stiff fines on companies that hire illegals as the senate gets an early start this morning. Those fines could be upwards of $20,000. And the Mexican president still in the fray, Vicente Fox continues his tour of western states that have a lot of immigrants in them. He insists building a wall at the border will not fix the problem. CNN's Ed Lavandera in Salt Lake City.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Mexican President Vicente Fox never mentioned the word immigration publicly during the first day of a four day trip to the United States which will take him to Utah, Washington State and California later this week. But that could all change later today, when the Mexican president delivers a speech before the Utah legislature. Over the last month, the Mexican president has been pushing for the U.S. to adopt a guest worker program and also for ways of speeding up legal status for Mexican immigrants who have come to work here in the U.S. Of course the Mexican president is walking a fine line. Many people close to the president say he does not want to appear to be influencing American politics at this time, but that is exactly what his critics say he is doing. Ed Lavandera, Salt Lake City, Utah.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MILES O'BRIEN: New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg weighing in on the debate as well. Out with a piece in "The Wall Street Journal" this morning, he says the idea of deporting 11 million illegals is pure fantasy. We'll talk with him in our 8:00 eastern hour and we'll talk immigration with the Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist in our 7:00 eastern hour. Soledad?

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: If it is real and so far intelligence officials believe it is, a new terror tape allegedly from Osama bin Laden would be the third message this year from the most wanted man. Among the claims made on the tape, that Bin Laden himself assigned the hijackers who carried out the 9/11 attacks. And also that Zacarias Moussaoui had nothing to do with the plot. Moussaoui is the only person convicted in the U.S. in connection with the September 11th attacks. The purported Bin Laden tape also alleges that most detainees at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba have no connection to 9/11 either. Miles?

MILES O'BRIEN: Preparing for disaster with a new hurricane season a week away that's the task at hand in both New Orleans and Washington. On Capitol Hill, confirmation hearings for the acting director of FEMA, and in New Orleans, day two of a widespread hurricane evacuation drill. We have two reports, the first with CNN's Susan Roesgen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUSAN ROESGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Today the city will test the second part of the evacuation plan. What to do after a hurricane blows through, dealing with things like communication problems and getting supplies into the city. Yesterday, the city tested its responses before a hurricane hits. How to evacuate the estimated 15,000 people who would need the city's help in getting out. Volunteers portraying evacuees boarded city buses at three different locations. Some of the volunteers portrayed elderly evacuees at a senior citizens center.

For the first time, the city plans to use Amtrak trains to get the elderly out. But that deal with Amtrak is not yet final. Other evacuees were taken to the convention center. That's where we saw something else new, names and addresses would be entered into a computer database and then each evacuee would be given one of these, a wristband with a bar code. It's a new way to track evacuees even when they're bused to other shelters. And it's a way for families who get separated during the storm to find each other afterward. Susan Roesgen, CNN, New Orleans.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: David Paulison is expected to win easy confirmation, but this committee actually called for the abolition of FEMA after its exhaustive study of the Katrina response. And senators are sure to quiz Paulison today about whether FEMA and the rest of the federal government is ready for the upcoming hurricane season. Yesterday, Paulison was among the federal officials saying it is, touting preparations that have been made. They said enough MREs, water and ice are stockpiled to sustain a million people for a week.

The National Guard is ready to deploy as many as 367,000 men and women. And Department of Defense satellites and aircraft will help provide quick damage assessments. But expect the committee to ask Paulison tough questions about coordination, communication and command structure. And whether his agency has the resources and staff it needs to respond to the next big storm. Jeanne Meserve, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Convicted snipers John Allen Muhammed and Lee Boyd Malvo face off in court again today. Muhammed is acting as his own attorney in his second trial is cross-examining Malvo, who's a witness for the prosecution. CNN's Kathleen Koch has more for us from Rockland, Maryland this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It was the most intense day in court since the two sniper suspects were arrested back in 2002. Suspect Lee Boyd Malvo revealed that the two men had actually planned a month of terror, six shootings every single day. After that, he said they were to begin phase two where they would use improvised explosives packed with nails and ball bearings to attack children at schools and on buses and at children's hospitals. He said they were about to begin that phase two when they were apprehended.

Now Malvo described in painstaking and chilling detail every single shooting and he said that it was Muhammed who had been the trigger man in nine of the 13 shootings. In a dramatic confrontation, Malvo turned to Muhammed and called him a coward saying, "You took me into your house and made me a monster." Now both men will be back in court this morning at 9:30, as the cross-examination continues. Kathleen Koch, CNN, Montgomery County, Maryland.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MILES O'BRIEN: Also happening in America this morning, a troubling twist to that North Dakota amber alert we told you about yesterday. Lee Cowen, the man police believe abducted 3-year-old Richele Smith in (INAUDIBLE) found dead. An apparent suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning but there's no sign of the little girl so far.

A not guilty plea for former homeland security department press aide Brian Doyle. Doyle the target of a Florida online sting. Police say he tried to seduce a teenager or what he thought was a teenager on the internet. He's facing 23 felony counts and life in prison if convicted.

A small plane crash in South Carolina with the lieutenant governor at the controls. Andrei Bauer is in the hospital right now, minor injuries. It happened near Spartanburg. The plane Bauer was piloting went down shortly after clipping some trees on takeoff from a dirt strip. Bauer and passenger John Ledhard also only slightly hurt, were rescued by a couple of good Samaritans. They pulled them from the plane just before it exploded.

Now check this out. Pictures of a scary wreck on a Michigan highway. Looks like NASCAR. Caught by a police car dash cam. Amazingly, the driver of this SUV not hurt in the accident. You talk about the rollover threat for these SUVs, there it is, case in point. Seatbelt likely saved her life. I'll say it again, the seatbelt likely saved her life. They're still looking for the car that swerved and caused the accident as you saw there.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: At the beginning of the tape, you can see a vehicle kind of swerves over and knocks her and then when she corrects --

MILES O'BRIEN: Might have been in the blind spot, changing lanes, boom, and next thing you know that's what happens.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: My God. I'm glad that she's okay. Still to come this morning, we're live inside the courtroom at the Saddam Hussein trial, we're going to hear what one of his former top aides is saying for the defense.

MILES O'BRIEN: And a look at what is being done to prevent the human transmission of the bird flu here in the U.S. For the first time, our cameras were allowed inside a very important laboratory. We'll take you there.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: And students better watch what they say on the internet. One school is watching and they say there are big consequences. We'll explain. Those stories are all ahead. First though a little peek at business news. Carrie's got that. Good morning.

CARRIE LEE, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you. Good morning. A tiny California town flexes some major muscle against the world's largest retailer. We'll have that story coming up on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody. Happening this morning, the senate holds a test vote today on its tough new immigration bill. Yesterday, senators added an amendment that would fine employers up to $20,000 for each undocumented worker they hire.

Health officials in Indonesia think bird flu may be spreading person to person. This after at least seven people in the same family became infected. Doctors have not found any infected animals nearby.

And today the FBI is going to tear down a barn on that Michigan farm where they've been searching for Jimmy Hoffa's remains. Authorities want to look in the barn's foundation. MILES O'BRIEN: Well they call it "my space." But is it really? Students in Illinois are finding their space is being invaded in a manner of speaking. Carol Costello in the newsroom with that. Good morning Carol.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Miles. That invasion of space, could spell trouble for tens of millions of teenagers. You know teenagers are drawn to those social networking websites like myspace and (INAUDIBLE). Now school officials in two suburban Chicago high schools are addressing the issue of students behaving badly on the internet. A new school policy makes students accountable for any information they post on the web even if it's totally unrelated to school.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Keeping teenagers in line when they're online can be a real struggle for parents. Now a school district in Illinois has stepped in with new rules for policing student behavior on blog sites like myspace.

PRENTISS LEA, ASSOC. SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT: We want to make sure that's we're creating guidelines and limits for students so they can have an honorable out. If they're under a lot of peer pressure to do something inappropriate, they're able to turn back to us or back to the code if they're involved in extracurriculars and say I can't go there.

COSTELLO: The new ode of conduct affects students involved in extracurricular activities. That's some 80 percent of the students in this Lake County school district. Evidence of illegal or inappropriate behavior by students posted on the internet could be grounds for punishment.

LINDSAY FOREMAN, STUDENT: I think that's just plain out stupid. I mean, you don't do that stuff first of all and you shouldn't be drinking under age. And to post it on myspace is just wrong. That's their own fault.

COSTELLO: First offenders will get a warning. Repeat offenders could be temporarily or permanently suspended.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it's really better for the security issues, for just helping kids realize that they need to be head accountable for their actions and that they can -- there are predators out there and the school administration might just be the least of their worries.

DENA MAHRENHOLZ, MOTHER OF STUDENT: I've been on the myspace and it is inappropriate information and anybody out there who has the accessibility can read what has gone on the weekend before.

COSTELLO: School officials say the web blog warning is designed to protect students from torpedoing their future plans.

LEA: Colleges are using blog searches as part of their college admissions process. We know that to be real, we believe that will expand over the coming years and kids need to be aware that have.

COSTELLO: The school board was unanimous in passing its new code of conduct. But not all parents are in favor. At least one says the policy goes too far.

MARY GREENBERG, MOTHER OF STUDENT: We have to watch what they're doing. But the school board does not have to police them further than their parents.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: They are. The new school rules take effect next year. The Illinois school district may be the first to address student blogs but apparently certainly not the last. Others are said to be looking at this new code of conduct as a model, so we're going to see what happens. And in case you're wondering how they're going to police the blogs, school officials aren't going to go on there every day, they're going to go on there every so often. They will leave it to the students to go to school officials to tell them there's something up on the web.

MILES O'BRIEN: Seems to me this is a parental issue more than anything, isn't it?

COSTELLO: It is but it affects school life, too. So school officials say they had to do something about it.

MILES O'BRIEN: Parents should be policing as well, that's my word for the morning on that one. Carol thank you very much. Soledad?

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: And if you're blogging, anyone can read it. That's the point. Like no, it's not in your little vacuum. There are college administrators who are checking in on students who applied to the college to see who they were getting.

MILES O'BRIEN: It's Google-able.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Absolutely. Always is.

MILES O'BRIEN: Is that a word?

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Yes it is now. Let's talk about "American Idol" because I know your O'Brien's are obsessed with "American Idol."

MILES O'BRIEN: We are obsessed. We are. Yes, we were watching.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: The finalists performed last night and tonight we're going to of course find out just who the nation chooses. It's down to McFever. I love that. Versus the soul patrol. There she is right there, 22-year-old Katharine McPhee, singing her rendition of "Over the Rainbow". It drew mostly praise.

MILES O'BRIEN: By the way, that is the best outfit I've seen on "American Idol." Very classy.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: You know you see the graph showing how their appearance improves greatly as they get further along.

MILES O'BRIEN: Yes. I would say right there, that's a case in point right there.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: She's cute, cute girl. Did well. 29-year-old Taylor Hicks and a version of "Do I Make You Proud."

MILES O'BRIEN: We're not showing the purple velvet coat here.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Which was hideous. This was his third I think, the third song that he was singing. Of course they had been sort of tied up to then. Simon Cowell said if it was a tie, then I think you just won. That's what he said. We'll see if the nation agrees because of course the winner is going to be announced tonight.

Ahead this morning, we talk to Jenny Alesso(PH), she's from "Rolling Stone" of course, she's going to join us in the 9:00 a.m. hour to talk about who she thinks is going to be a big winner and the big loser. Still to come this morning, he's back, Lewis the terror kitty of Connecticut. Remember this little kitty. Mean, mean kitty.

MILES O'BRIEN: Who could forget him.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: His owners back in court trying to save him, but he's a felon basically, and we'll see if it's going to work. Plus, congress taking on high gas prices. We're going to check out the senator who nearly brought a witness to tears for defending the oil industry. We'll tell you what she said, what she asked, that's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

MILES O'BRIEN: Thank you Chad. Here's the latest CNN gas gauge. The national average rounded off $2.87. A gallon of unleaded regular. There it is. One month ago, it was $2.91, a year ago, it was $2.12. The price of gas has some lawmakers fuming. Check out this scene on Capitol Hill yesterday. The subject was gas price gouging post Katrina. The chairwoman of the Federal Trade Commission defending the oil companies. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BARBARA BOXER, (D) CALIFORNIA: You can't even in this report tell the truth to the American people about that? You just brush the whole thing off and sweep it under the rug. I'll tell you, we don't need an FTC like this. I'm not just saying your FTC. I'm saying you go back and you see, you know, if the oil companies wanted to pay for a whitewash, they couldn't have gotten a better one.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MILES O'BRIEN: Now, the FTC chairwoman says a federal price gouging law aimed at oil companies would be hard to enforce. Soledad? SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Yeah that got pretty ugly. Barbara Boxer just took a piece out of her, didn't she? And she got very upset and started to cry.

MILES O'BRIEN: A little bit -- some tears later. We didn't show all that.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Yeah, it was not pretty.

MILES O'BRIEN: Not a pretty scene.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Speaking of not pretty --

MILES O'BRIEN: No.

LEE: Fannie Mae.

MILES O'BRIEN: Oh I thought you were talking about Carrie. I'm sorry.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: I love Carrie.

LEE: Oh come on.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: What's wrong with you?

LEE: We're talking about the company.

MILES O'BRIEN: I hadn't been hit in a few days.

LEE: But (INAUDIBLE) because years ago, this company was really the pinnacle of corporate well-being if you will. This is an update on a story of course we told you about yesterday. 29 former and current Fannie Mae execs could face disciplinary action for their role in the company's huge accounting sandal. Now the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight released an official report after an investigation that lasted three years. Eight million documents to this report. So really extensive. The company now faces a fine of $400 million. There's also a cap on the growth of the company's mortgage lending. Among some other constraints.

According to the report for the six years ending 2003, former chief Frank Raines was paid $90 million. $52 million of that money was directly tied to the company meeting profit targets. So that's the latest on Fannie Mae. We'll see if anyone tries to get some of that money back from Mr. Raines.

And another story we told you about yesterday, the small California town of Hercules flexing some major muscle against Wal-Mart. Of course the world's largest retailer. Hercules voted to use the power of eminent domain to prevent Wal-Mart from moving into the small town. An overflow crowd at the city council meeting cheered the decision. Wal-Mart has not yet decided its next step. But other cities have started to use this tactic to fight off Wal-Mart, among other things. So interesting take on the concept of eminent domain. Quick check on stocks. Another down day. Dow finished lower by about 27 points. We're now down about 550 points over the past two weeks. And looking like we could see some red arrows once again.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: I'm not going to talk about Dow 12,000 today.

LEE: Yeah, we are way off from that.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: I know, I blew it, I'm sorry.

LEE: Who knows? We lost a lot of ground, the Dow down about 4 percent so far this year. NASDAQ underwater too.

MILES O'BRIEN: What's a number?

LEE: A lot.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: NASDAQ, actually pretty much everything.

MIILES O'BRIEN: Pretty much the whole thing. This morning's top stories straight ahead, including Iraq's former deputy prime minister, Tariq Aziz. Remember this face? He steps up to the plate and tries to defend the old boss at the Saddam Hussein trial. We're live from Baghdad with more on that.

Then a mother behind bars this morning. All because her daughter kept skipping school. Is it fair? Stay with us for more AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MILES O'BRIEN: Happening this morning, the senate will hold a test vote on its immigration bill today. Yesterday, senators added an amendment that would fine employers up to $20,000 for each undocumented worker they hire.

Health officials investigating the possibility bird flu might be spreading person to person in Indonesia. That's a significant development if true. This comes after at least seven people in one family became infected.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com