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American Morning
Immigration Battle; Blair's U.S. Visit; Subway Bomb Plot; War on Wal-Mart
Aired May 25, 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: Good morning. Welcome, everybody. Welcome to Thursday. I'm Soledad O'Brien.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Miles O'Brien.
Here's a look at what is happening this morning, Thursday, May 25.
The Senate plan to fix illegal immigration likely to pass today, setting the stage for an intra-Congress battle of the bills. The Senate bill includes a guest worker program and a path to citizenship for illegals. The House bill would make illegal immigrants felons forcing mass deportations.
S. O'BRIEN: There's a new development in the investigation into the NSA's domestic spying program. According to "Roll Call" magazine, top lawmakers will now face questioning from the FBI on whether they need details about that top secret program.
The Justice Department denies it is investigating House Speaker Dennis Hastert. The denial follows an "ABC News" report that Hastert is being investigated in connection with the Jack Abramoff corruption case. Hastert has asked for a full retraction. ABC says it's standing by its story.
M. O'BRIEN: Vice President Dick Cheney might be a star witness in the trial of his former chief of staff. Lewis "Scooter" Libby indicted for perjury after he divulged the name of a CIA agent to reporters, an apparent effort to undermine a harsh critic of the Iraq war. A special council says Cheney is a logical witness.
Just back from Iraq, British Prime Minister Tony Blair pays a visit to the White House today. Blair and President Bush to discuss the new Iraqi government and a possible timetable for withdrawing U.S. and British troops from Iraq.
S. O'BRIEN: And a deadline today for Martha Stewart, she has to respond to the SEC's civil lawsuit against her on insider trading charges. The case is connected to her sale of ImClone stock back in 2001.
Brings us right to a check of the forecast and Chad Myers who is at the CNN Center this morning.
Hey, Chad, good morning.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Soledad. Good morning, Miles.
(WEATHER REPORT)
Back to you guys.
S. O'BRIEN: Nice Memorial Day weekend we've got.
MYERS: Yes.
S. O'BRIEN: I am so excited about that.
All right, Chad, thanks.
MYERS: You're welcome.
S. O'BRIEN: Sweeping immigration reform bill expected to pass the Senate today. It's got three major components, border security, including funding for 370 miles of fencing along the Mexican border; a guest worker program that would allow somewhere between one and three million workers already in this country illegally to be eligible for work visas and a path to citizenship for about seven million people, if they stay employed, pass background checks, pay fines and taxes and learn English. The bill, though, a very long way from becoming law because there are some major differences with legislation that's already been passed by the House.
Correspondent Tara Mergener is live for us in Washington, D.C.
Tara, good morning.
TARA MERGENER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
Well the Senate could pass this bill as early as this afternoon, paving the way for a showdown with the House.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TARA MERGENER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The sweeping immigration proposal being pushed by the White House includes a guest worker program and tougher border security and possible roads to citizenship for many of the 12 million people here illegally.
SEN. BILL FRIST (R), MAJORITY LEADER: Not everybody is going to agree with it, not a perfect bill, but the best of what our legislative body can do addressing very real issues that are out there.
MERGENER: Today's vote on the Senate bill follows weeks of protests, debate and political wrangling. Many lawmakers expect it to pass and set up a battle with House conservatives who say the measure provides amnesty for lawbreakers.
But some are optimistic a deal can be reached.
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: I've seen some good comments out of the House, and there's no reason why we shouldn't sit down and be able to work something out.
MERGENER: The House version of the immigration bill contains no guest worker program and would expose those who cross the border illegally to felony charges. It passed last year.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's important that we get some things done here and get an immigration bill done.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MERGENER: And that the House and the Senate will have to merge their separate bills before a final version is sent to President Bush.
Live in Washington this morning, I'm Tara Mergener.
Soledad, back to you.
S. O'BRIEN: Tara, a quick question for you. And you say they've got to merge these bills before it goes to President Bush, which is a huge if, I think it's fair to say. If the president does get the bill and signs it, could be good for him, could be disaster, though, for the Republicans as they face midterm elections, right?
MERGENER: Well, certainly. This could be a big victory for President Bush. He has been pushing for immigration reform. But this is a much milder version than the House originally passed in December. That could anger the conservative base, and they are the ones who turn out to vote in the midterm elections.
S. O'BRIEN: Tara Mergener for us this morning.
Tara, thanks -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Just back from Iraq, British Prime Minister Tony Blair comes calling at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue today. The president's closest ally in the Iraq war there to talk about the new government in Baghdad and a possible timetable for withdrawing British and U.S. troops.
CNN's Paula Newton is in London.
Paula, we know the president here is under pressure to bring troops home. I assume it's the same for Tony Blair, if not more so.
PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is, certainly. And the majority polls have shown that always the majority of Britons have been against this war effort. There are about 8,000 British troops in Iraq right now, and they have been taking some heavy casualties.
You know Tony Blair's fortunes have kind of gone the way of President Bush. He's down in the polls and he is doing all he can to detract from what's going on in Iraq. For this meeting coming up, we're not expecting to hear anything specific from either side about troop withdrawals. They are really lowering expectations on that.
What Tony Blair wants to convince George Bush of, though, is that he can and that they should support more of a U.N. role, even a humanitarian role there, and try and elevate the status of this being more of an international effort in Iraq and take the heat off Britain and the U.S., even just a smidge.
M. O'BRIEN: Paula, how politically firm is Tony Blair's position domestically right now? And how much does that dictate what he does right now?
NEWTON: You know there's been a lot written in the papers here just about how he is a lame duck. And you know we're very familiar to hearing that in the United States.
What he wants to do, though, is try and again deflect from any Iraqi issue right now. He was out here just a few minutes ago, Miles. He refused to take questions about his trip to Washington, said he'd discuss it later.
You know, Miles, the press conference will be live here at 12:30 in the morning. Most Britons will be in bed or watching other things on TV. It will deprive the networks here of being able to run that live coverage, and that's exactly what Blair's people wanted. They really want to get onto the domestic agenda here and get away from the entire Iraqi issue -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: OK, Paula Newton there at 10 Downing Street, thank you very much.
CNN will have live coverage of the Bush-Blair news conference 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time here in the United States. A special edition of "THE SITUATION ROOM" with Wolf Blitzer will be followed by the news conference at 7:30, precisely. And a special edition of "PAULA ZAHN" 8:30 Eastern right here on CNN -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: CNN "Security Watch" now.
A Pakistani national is now facing life in prison after he was found guilty in a plot to blow up a New York City subway station.
More from Sandra Bookman of our New York affiliate WABC.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SANDRA BOOKMAN, WABC-TV REPORTER (voice-over): Shahawar Matin Siraj sat expressionless as the jury returned its unanimous verdict, guilty on all four counts. The end of a saga that began nearly two years ago.
Twenty-three-year-old Shahawar Matin Siraj was arrested on the eve of the 2004 Republican National Convention on charges he had plotted to attack a subway station in Herald Square. The government alleged he had planned to put the bombs inside backpacks to blow up the station.
During the four-week trial, the prosecution introduced secretly recorded conversations it claimed showed Siraj methodically planning the bombings. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you going to do it?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Am I going to do 34th?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
BOOKMAN: But the defense countered that the digital recordings merely showed a paid police informant luring Siraj into a phony bomb plot, essentially entrapping him. Taking the witness stand in his own defense, Siraj testified he had never had a violent thought before he met the informant, Osama Eldawoody.
But the jury believed the prosecution and convicted Siraj. While prosecutors declined comment on their victory, the defense attorney talked about his client's obvious disappointment.
MARTIN R. STOLAR, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: I'm not sure that he gets all the consequences of what this means for him other than the fact that he remains in jail. But of course he is not happy with the verdict, as we are not happy with the verdict either.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
S. O'BRIEN: That report from Sandra Bookman of New York affiliate WABC.
Sentencing is set to take place in October.
You want to stay with CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Also happening in America this morning, testimony resuming in the D.C. sniper trial today. Sniper John Muhammad, acting as his own lawyer, grilled his accomplice in the shooting spree, Lee Malvo, yesterday. Malvo said Muhammad indoctrinated him. Muhammad is on trial for six murders in Maryland back in 2002.
A tempest brewing beneath the Capitol Dome. Lawmakers in the House say the FBI crossed a line when it searched the office of Congressman William Jefferson who is the target of a bribery investigation. Lawmakers say it is a violation of the constitutional separation of powers. Members of Congress asking the Justice Department to return the seized documents.
A wild chase near the Mexican border. San Diego police in hot pursuit, speeds reaching triple digits. It ended with a crash. The driver, Yohab Casito (ph) arrested. Police say they found a gun and a lot of cash, mostly hundred dollar bills, inside that SUV.
A show of support for the Duke men's lacrosse team from the other Duke lacrosse team. Members of the women's lacrosse team plan to wear sweatbands with the word innocent written on them when they play in the national semifinals tomorrow. Duke administrators canceled the season for the men's team after an exotic dancer accused three players of rape at a party. Two Iraqi children with life-threatening conditions in New Jersey now ready for free heart surgery. U.S. military and Iraqi doctors first contacted Deborah Heart and Lung Center eight months ago to bring a 5-year-old boy and a 15-year-old girl to the U.S. And we wish them well this morning.
S. O'BRIEN: Gosh, we sure do.
Well guess what, the new "Idol" has been crowned. Listen.
M. O'BRIEN: Drum roll please.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RYAN SEACREST, HOST, "AMERICAN IDOL": The winner of "American Idol" season five is Taylor Hicks.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
S. O'BRIEN: Soul Patrol beat out McPheever last night. More than 63 million votes were cast, many of them, of course, most likely from Taylor Hick's hometown of Birmingham, Alabama. The winner was announced in a two-hour finale, which featured performances from Prince and Meat Loaf and Mary J. Blige.
M. O'BRIEN: I've got to say, Meat Loaf with Katharine McPhee was my moment of the evening. My kids are going who is that guy? He seems like he's shaking, daddy. Anyway.
S. O'BRIEN: Guess what, they're all going to be on Larry King.
M. O'BRIEN: Boy, good.
S. O'BRIEN: Here's your big chance to talk with the new "American Idol" and the runner-up, Taylor and Katharine. They are going to sit down, along with Ryan Seacrest. They've got their first live prime time interview, the first of many, my guess is.
M. O'BRIEN: You think?
S. O'BRIEN: Yes. Randy Jackson, too. They're all going to be taking the calls. That's tomorrow, 9:00 p.m. Eastern on "LARRY KING LIVE."
M. O'BRIEN: I wonder if Larry is one of Randy's dawgs, you know.
S. O'BRIEN: Dawgs, yes.
M. O'BRIEN: You know, dawg.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes. Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: My dawg, dude, dawg.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes. M. O'BRIEN: All right, still to come on the program, two teenagers charged with trying to shake down myspace.com. We'll have details of their brazen plan.
S. O'BRIEN: Also, maybe there's a reason this little town is called Hercules. We'll hear why residents are so intent on fighting the world's largest retailer.
M. O'BRIEN: Then gently (ph) flooding in Thailand. Seventy-five thousand homes destroyed. The worse may be yet to come.
Carrie Lee with a preview.
Good morning, -- Carrie.
CARRIE LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Miles and Soledad.
Two major legal settlements to talk about today. The first with a major radio star and his former employer, the second from the maker of a once big diet drug. We'll have that coming up on AMERICAN MORNING.
S. O'BRIEN: Great.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
M. O'BRIEN: Happening this morning, the Senate likely to pass an immigration bill today. It includes a guest worker program and gives millions of undocumented immigrants a shot at citizenship.
And immigration will also be the focus as Mexico's President Vicente Fox meets with California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today. Fox has been touring western states pushing for a guest worker program for illegal immigrants.
There are reports the FBI wants to question top lawmakers on whether they leaked details about that domestic spying program conducted by the government's National Security Agency. That word coming from the publication "Roll Call." More on that later -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Small California town is standing up to Wal-Mart, trying to run the retail giant out of their town.
Carol Costello is live in the newsroom with that story.
Hey, Carol, good morning.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. Good morning to all of you.
It's the people versus Wal-Mart. An update now on a Herculean effort with a twist, this time Wal-Mart is not benefiting from eminent domain. No, a little town turned eminent domain around, using it to beat down a giant. So let the lawsuits begin.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A packed city hall, these residents of the small San Francisco suburb of Hercules to witness a municipal David take on a retail Goliath.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I say throw the bums out.
COSTELLO: The five-member town council voted unanimously to seize 17 acres of waterfront property, on which the nation's largest retailer, Wal-Mart, planned to build a new big box store and shopping center. The town did it by invoking the power of eminent domain, the right to take private property from its owners for the public good.
ARTHUR FRIEDMAN, ATTORNEY FOR WAL-MART: The notion that Wal-Mart has been trying to force upon this community something that it doesn't want or the notion that Wal-Mart has been not caring about this community's vision is simply not true.
COSTELLO: Opponents argued a Wal-Mart mega store would wreck the small town flavor of Hercules.
BRENDA SMITH-JOHNSON, HERCULES RESIDENT: Small businesses to be forced out, total lack of respect for the desires of the majority of citizens in Hercules, our vision crushed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It doesn't fit our community plan that was adopted five years ago of small neighborhood stores.
COSTELLO: Wal-Mart bought this 17-acre site back in November. The company first proposed building a 142,000-square-foot store near the waterfront, but says it scaled back development plans to address concerns of residents.
FRIEDMAN: Wal-Mart has spent close to a million dollars specifically redesigning that application to respond to the desires of this community.
COSTELLO: Wal-Mart says the newly configured store would create hundreds of jobs and inject a half-million dollars in sales taxes into the local economy. At the city hall meeting Tuesday, only five residents of Hercules spoke in favor of Wal-Mart.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You've got two stores in here, you cannot make the city work on boutiques. Boutiques don't do it.
COSTELLO: But in the end, there was overwhelming support for Hercules city fathers and the effort to keep Wal-Mart out.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
But it could cost them. The city of Hercules could pay more than $15 million to buy back the property. Wal-Mart rejected the city's offer earlier this year. So it appears the dispute will have to be resolved in court.
S. O'BRIEN: So many of these disputes are. All right, Carol, thank you very much -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Let's get a forecast in now. Chad Myers at the CNN Center with that.
Hello, -- Chad.
MYERS: Hi, Miles.
(WEATHER REPORT)
Back to you, -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: That's the way we like it.
MYERS: Yes.
S. O'BRIEN: All right, Chad, thanks.
MYERS: You're welcome.
S. O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, we're on baby Brangelina watch. The latest word on when Angelina Jolie is expected to give birth. We're watching her every moment.
And how about this, a catch worth bragging about, look at that. That's a 1,200-pound shark. Details on this one which clearly didn't get away just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
S. O'BRIEN: Here's a look at some of the most popular stories right now on CNN.com.
An eighth grader from Illinois, pinpoints the Cambrian Mountains on a map and wins the National Geography Bee. Bonnie Jane (ph) gets a $25,000 first prize.
The birth of baby Brangelina, that's Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's little baby, just days away. The two, the happy couple, said to be in seclusion in Namibia awaiting the expected birth next week of their first child together.
And Soul Patrol on center stage, Taylor Hicks is crowned the newest "American Idol." Voters chose the gray-haired soul singer over 22-year-old Katharine McPhee.
Believe it or not, CBS, Howard Stern, a deal may be in the works.
LEE: Maybe in the works. Nothing signed yet, reportedly. Nothing signed on the dotted line. But shock jock Howard Stern and former employer CBS have settled their breach of contract. The company filed a suit against him earlier this year.
CBS sued Stern in February, claiming he used its airwaves to promote his move to Sirius Satellite Radio. CBS also says he made plans to move to Sirius without informing the company about the decision, and that is a violation -- was a violation of Stern's contract. So waiting to hear if the deal is signed on the dotted line.
Meanwhile, drug giant Wyeth is giving $1.28 billion to 40,000 people who took the diet drug Fen-Phen. Remember this story back in the late 1990s was a very popular drug. It was pulled from the market, though, in 1997 after worries that it caused heart problems.
This translates to an average $32,000 a person. And the settlement covers people with the least serious problems. Overall, the company has set aside just over $21 billion for lawsuits related to the drug. Wyeth says it's close to being concluded with all litigation. So that's the latest on Wyeth.
A quick check on the market. Stocks added a little bit of ground yesterday in a late-day rally. You can see the Dow up 18 points there. Some weak economic numbers indicated the Fed may have raised interest rates enough to slow down the economy.
This morning, it's looking like a pretty flat open. But you know we're in this market where bearish economic news is almost seen as a good thing because that means that the Fed will be less likely to keep raising rates.
M. O'BRIEN: So confusing to me.
LEE: It's a little illogical.
M. O'BRIEN: So inside the looking glass stuff.
LEE: Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: But you get it. So I'm glad you're here.
LEE: Well you have the interest rate watchers on one side and then the bargain hunters on the other side and that's kind of what's really going on.
S. O'BRIEN: Right. Good news is not always good news.
LEE: Exactly.
S. O'BRIEN: And bad news is often good news is what she's saying in a nutshell.
LEE: I have to think about that one.
M. O'BRIEN: Deep thoughts from Soledad O'Brien.
LEE: Right.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: Thank you very much. It is a parent's worst nightmare, a child goes missing. And we're told, listen to this, it happens 2,000 times a day here in the U.S. That's a big and scary number. And we mention it because it is National Missing Children's Day. You'll see some ads in the papers today.
I invite you to do what I have done, sign up for those AMBER Alerts on your cell phone. It's really easy to do. It's a very useful tool for finding kidnapped kids.
What else can we do? In our next hour, we'll talk to the head of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. We'll ask him how we can keep our children safe.
And we will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
M. O'BRIEN: Happening this morning, a battle under way between lawmakers and federal law enforcers. Leaders in the House upset about an unprecedented FBI raid on Congressman William Jefferson's office. He's the target of a bribery investigation. They say it was an illegal raid. They want those documents back.
More Bird Flu concerns this morning. Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt will brief the Senate on the government's Bird Flu response plan. This comes right on the heels of that case of possible human-to-human transmission we told you about yesterday in Indonesia.
And the pope is in Poland today paying homage to his predecessor. Pope Benedict will visit the homeland of John Paul II and meet with Polish leaders.
Good morning to you, I'm Miles O'Brien.
S. O'BRIEN: And I'm Soledad O'Brien.
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