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American Morning

New Money Man; Congressman William Jefferson House Hearing; Marine Massacre in Haditha?

Aired May 30, 2006 - 08:59   ET

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

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: A blizzard of speculation finally leads to a snowfall. The Treasury secretary is sent packing. The president will make it official in the Rose Garden in minutes. You'll see it live here.
DANA BASH, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Dana Bash on Capitol Hill, where we're expecting a hearing about the FBI raid on a congressman's office. More about that coming up.

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: I'm Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon. Just how did the alleged massacre at Haditha unfold? I'll have a timeline just ahead.

CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Chris Burns in Landstuhl, Germany, where Kimberly Dozier, the CBS correspondent, is in intensive care here. Doctors saying they're going to have to operate on her ever two or three days.

Will she stay here? Will she go back to the states for that kind of care? Her family arrives tomorrow. They'll be talking with doctors about that.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Is there a more potent poison ivy in your yard? Scientists say it's true, and they're blaming it on global warming. We'll explain.

M. O'BRIEN: And are you planning a long plane flight for vacation this summer? Well, you need to listen up to a segment we have coming up. There's some very dangerous potential side-effects. We'll have a closer look for you ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING.

S. O'BRIEN: Good morning. Welcome back, everybody. I'm Soledad O'Brien.

M. O'BRIEN: And I'm Miles O'Brien. Thanks for being with us.

S. O'BRIEN: We begin with breaking news out of the White House. President Bush is expected to announce within minutes the resignation of Treasury Secretary John Snow and the nomination of his successor. Administration sources say the president will nominate Henry Paulson to the cabinet post. Paulson is currently CEO at Goldman Sachs.

CNN White House Correspondent Ed Henry is waiting for the news conference. In the moments before, though, he join us live.

Hey, Ed. Good morning. ED HENRY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

As you noted, Henry Paulson, a heavyweight on Wall Street, chairman, CEO of Goldman Sachs. One White House ally telling CNN that they really wanted to go here with the Robert Rubin model. You'll remember the former Goldman Sachs CEO turned Treasury secretary in the Clinton years. And while the economy is in good shape right now, this White House realizes there are some jitters about inflation, jitters about energy prices, budget deficits. And they decided it was time to restore some credibility on Wall Street.

The problem, though, was that they really could not find someone for a long period of time, months really, to replace John Snow. A lot of heavyweights on Wall Street decided that this was not really the prestigious job it once was. Mostly because economic policy has been created by a small circle of advisors right here at the White House.

They've turned the Treasury secretary into basically the salesman in chief. He then has to go out, sell the policy to Capitol Hill, to the markets. Clearly, Henry Paulson, now taking this, must feel that he's getting enough power, that he's satisfied that he can lead this prominent job and that he will actually have a role in shaping economic policy.

One key to that may be the fact that the new White House chief of staff, Josh Bolten, he used to be at Goldman Sachs. Maybe there's a little bit of an alliance there between Bolten and Paulson -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: An interesting point. All right.

Ed Henry, we're watching it. Thanks very much. We'll check in with you live when that happens.

The announcement is expected at about quarter after the hour. CNN, of course, is going to carry that live -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Will a veteran Wall Street guy be effective at promoting the Bush agenda on Capitol Hill as it relates to the economy?

Congressional Correspondent Dana Bash live now on the Hill with more.

Dana, good morning.

BASH: Good morning, Miles.

And as usual, we have reaction first from the senator from New York, the Democrat, Chuck Schumer. And they will be certainly happy to hear at the White House what he has to say.

He says that Mr. Paulson's experience, intelligence and deep understanding of the national global and economic issues make him the best pick America could have hoped for. So a glowing endorsement, if you will, from a Democrat who is certainly not a friend of the Bush administration. On the other hand, it's important to note here, Miles, another dynamic here which is from Republicans. Republicans here on Capitol Hill are going to be very interested and very hopeful in what Paulson, if confirmed, will be able to do for them this election year. They have been very frustrated about the fact that they believe the economy is booming, doing very well, and the perception among voters is that it is not doing well.

And that is critical for them this election year. They certainly hope that the team at the White House can help them with that, because they feel like they've been quite weak this far -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Of course, it's hard to turn the economy around in the time frame they would like it to have occur. Let's -- I tell you what, let's shift gears, talk about William Jefferson, congressman from Louisiana, bribery investigation, and that raid on his office. That still is stirring up an awful lot of talk on Capitol Hill among lawmakers, you know, unprecedented legal action.

Hearings today. What will they be talking about?

BASH: They're going to be talking about just that, Miles. And, in fact, it's certainly unusual to have a hearing on Capitol Hill today because, as you know, nobody's around. They're actually not in session.

Most -- most lawmakers are back home for Memorial Day recess. But the House Judiciary Committee is going to have a hearing which will start in about a half an hour on that particular issue.

Now, they have not invited anybody from the administration. Instead, they are simply going to have four or five experts, constitutional experts, on this issue. But make no mistake about it, the chairman, James Sensenbrenner, is very clear where he stands on this. Listen to the title of this hearing, Miles, "Reckless Justice: Did the Saturday Night Raid of Congress Trample the Constitution?"

So that is certainly going to be where he is going to be coming from. And I can tell you that Democrats late last week -- perhaps we'll hear from some today, if any come to this hearing -- have been a little business frustrated about the fact that they say that Republicans here on Capitol Hill have not spoken up about the tactics that they say some, some tactics have been heavy-handed by the Bush administration, the Justice Department. They haven't spoken up about that until it trampled on their turf -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: You don't think the congressman has made up his mind on this one would, maybe? Potentially...

BASH: I don't think so.

M. O'BRIEN: All right.

BASH: I think it's pretty clear.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes. Dana Bash, on the Hill, thank you very much. BASH: Thank you.

M. O'BRIEN: Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes, it kind of sounds that way.

Well, CNN has learned that murder charges could be filed next month against Marines involved in an alleged massacre in Iraq. At least 24 Iraqis were killed in Haditha last November 19th. Some of the worst images of the day were seen apparently by another Marine, Lance Corporal Ryan Briones, who was part of the cleanup crew.

This is how his mother decides what her son saw.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SUSAN BRIONES, MOTHER OF LANCE CPL. BRIONES: It was horrific. It was a terrible scene. The biggest thing that keeps to his mind is the children.

He had to carry, since he was part of the cleanup crew, is carry that little girl's body. And her -- her head was blown off or something, that her brain splattered on his boots. And that's what affects Ryan the most.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How many bodies did he tell you he saw?

BRIONES: Twenty-three. Around 23, 24. Twenty-three is what I remember.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Were any of them alive?

BRIONES: No, they were all dead.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

S. O'BRIEN: For the facts behind the story, we turn to our senior Pentagon correspondent, Jamie McIntyre.

Jamie, good morning.

MCINTYRE: Good morning, Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: How far up the chain of command does this investigation go?

MCINTYRE: Well, that's one of the questions that's being addressed by an investigation that's concluding right now. I mean, what is clear is that the story that the Marines told initially, that these civilians were killed by a roadside bomb and then a firefight, has not withstood the scrutiny of an investigation. And that initial account was inaccurate.

In fact, that realization is what sparked the whole investigation in the first place, once "TIME" magazine brought that information to the U.S. military. What is unclear is how far up the chain of command, what other commanders might have known, the real story, or at least suspected something was not right with that. And at this point, sources have told CNN that there -- there was a cover-up, but they're not -- not saying how far up it went.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JOHN MURTHA (D), PENNSYLVANIA: We've got to get it out. We've got to get it over with. We have to make the truth -- and I give General Hagee, the commandant of the Marine Corps, credit. He's over there right now telling the troops, we've got to protect non- combatants, the rules of engagement insist that you don't fire unless you're in danger.

And I understand the pressure the troops are under, but that's not the point. The point is, we can't let something like this go on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCINTYRE: Congressman John Murtha has been briefed by some of the top Marine leaders about what's going on in the investigation. And we've been taking a look back at how it all unfolded.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MCINTYRE (voice-over): When CNN caught up with the 3rd Battalion 1st Marine regiment in Haditha last October, the unit it was thick in the fight against insurgents, capturing weapons and uncovering roadside bombs. Just over a month later, these civilians, videotaped by an Iraqi journalism student, would die in what U.S. military investigators now strongly suspect was a rampage, by a small number of Marines who snapped after one of their own was killed by a roadside bomb.

GEN. PETER PACE, JOINT CHIEFS CHAIRMAN: There are two ongoing investigation. One investigation has to do with what happened. The other investigation goes to, why didn't we know about it sooner than we knew about it.

MCINTYRE: At first, the U.S. military simply refused to believe villagers who accused the Marines of murdering unarmed civilians, even when presented by credible evidence assembled by "TIME" magazine in February.

BOBBY GHOSH, "TIME" MAGAZINE: They were incredibly hostile. They accused us of buying into enemy propaganda, and they stuck to their original story, which was that these people were all killed by the IED.

MCINTYRE: But that story fell apart in the wake of an investigation. That sources tell CNN will likely result in charges of murder against some Marines and dereliction of duty against others.

Sources say between four and eight Marines from Kiyo (ph) company were directly involved, but some Marines from different units say they knew what happened, because they helped document the aftermath. Lance Corporal Ryan Briones told "The Los Angeles Times" he took pictures of at least 15 bodies, and is still haunted by the memory of picking up a young girl who was shot in the head. "I held her out like this," he said, demonstrating with his arms extended, "but the head was bobbing up and down, and the insides fell on my legs."

Briones mother CNN he is now suffering from post-traumatic stress.

SUSAN BRIONES, MARINE'S MOTHER: That's what affects Ryan the most, is that he had to pick up this child's body to put her in a body bag.

MCINTYRE: A timeline put together by "TIME" magazine and confirmed for CNN by Pentagon sources shows the sequence of events in Haditha on November 19th. After a roadside bomb killed 20-year-old Lance Corporal Miguel Terazes (ph) at 7:15 in the morning, the Marines immediately suspected four Iraqi teenagers in a taxi, and shot them along with the driver when the Marines say they failed to lie on the ground as ordered.

The hunt for bombers moved to a nearby house where seven people, including two women and one child, were killed. Then eight people, including six women, were shot next door, while a group of women in a third house were not harmed. But in a fourth house four men were killed.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCINTYRE: Again, sources tell CNN the investigation is substantially complete and that charges will likely be filed some time in June, including, in all likelihood, murder charges against some Marines -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Jamie, I asked Congressman Murtha about comparisons some have made to My Lai, the massacre during the Vietnam War, and he said he thought this was worse. What are other people saying?

MCINTYRE: Well, I don't -- I certainly don't think it's worse than My Lai. My Lai involved the massacre of between 300 and 500 South Vietnamese citizens, including elderly men, women and children. It was a massive massacre.

But in a sense, there's a parallel, because what My Lai did was it made people think, gee if this is what the U.S. troops have become, have sunk to in Vietnam, than why are they there? And to some extent, that's the problem with this massacre at Haditha.

Assuming the allegations are confirmed and, in fact, two dozen civilians were killed, people are going to question, gee, what is it -- what kind of pressure are U.S. troops under and why are they there if this is what is going on? So it has echoes of My Lai, but certainly not on the scale of My Lai.

S. O'BRIEN: Interesting. All right. Jamie McIntyre for us this morning. Jamie, thanks -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: In Indonesia, emergency aide is beginning to arrive after that huge earthquake over the weekend. Officials there now say more than 5,400 are dead, thousands more injured.

CNN's Dan Rivers on the videophone in one of the hardest hit cities, Yogyakarta.

Dan, what's the biggest problem people are contending with there right now?

DAN RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I think it's shelter at the moment. There are thousands of people who have been made homeless by this earthquake, buildings like the one you can just make out behind me that have collapsed completely. Meaning people are having to camp outside.

And we've had a lot of rain here in the last couple of days. And this is the fourth day now after this disaster, and still there are thousands of people camping outside. For some this is their fourth night outside.

We spoke earlier on CNN to an aid worker from Mercy Corps who was pretty candid when he is saying, look, there is not enough organization between the agencies here. They've had trucks sitting there empty, waiting to deliver supplies, but because no one seems to be coordinating, the supplies aren't getting to the trucks. So there's a bit of a muddle. There is a lot of aid coming in, but it's quite chaotic in the way it's being distributed, from what we're hearing.

M. O'BRIEN: Dan, we're hearing that tens of thousands of people's homes destroyed. You say they need shelter. Where are they staying right now? Are they just under plastic tarpaulins, that kind of thing?

RIVERS: They're camping right outside their homes, yes, with whatever they salvaged from their homes. Most of them are under sheets of corrugated iron, sheets of plastic that they've put up.

And don't forget, these are people who have only just buried, you know, close members of their family. So they've had to go through all the trauma of losing close members of their family.

Many of them sustained injuries themselves. We saw people today who, you know, got pretty bad cuts on their head, but they just had to bandage up, and then get on with surviving amid the rubble -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Dan Rivers, in Indonesia.

Thank you -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Let's get to the forecast. It's 13 minutes past the hour. Chad's got that.

Hey, Chad. Good morning. What are you looking at?

(WEATHER REPORT)

M. O'BRIEN: Happening "In America" right now, in Richmond, Virginia, a deadly fire in a nursing home. Two elderly women died yesterday. Witnesses heard a loud boom before the fire broke out.

Let's good to the Rose Garden and the president for a big announcement.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: ... Henry Paulson to be the secretary of the Treasury.

(INTERRUPTED BY LIVE EVENT)

BUSH: Good job. Thank you.

M. O'BRIEN: There you have it. There's the announcement. The Treasury secretary nominee, Hank Paulson, Goldman Sachs head, and a bona fide, you know, U.S.-minted heavyweight.

Andy Serwer is here to talk a little bit about it.

You know him. And why don't you give us a sense of who this man is.

ANDY SERWER, EDITOR-AT-LARGE, "FORTUNE": Yes, I've spent a fair amount of time with Hank Paulson over the years, and you don't get to be CEO of Goldman Sachs by being a wallflower. And this guy is a very experienced and accomplished guy. The firm has thrived under his leadership, no question about that.

He sort of has a steely continence or demeanor, but really lights up. He loves to talk about financial markets, but also he's a keen conservationist. Loves to talk about birds.

M. O'BRIEN: Really?

SERWER: Was the head of the Nature Conservancy.

And it's interesting. You know, his name had been bandied about for months as a replacement for Snow. But he had resisted, according to sources, coming to Washington. Of course, he had served in Washington previously under other administrations.

But this happened very quickly, according to sources, over the weekend, and there was extreme pressure brought from the White House, apparently. And I think that what this means is he was assured he would not just be a "yes man," that he would actually have real authority, because what's in it for him if he is just a "yes man"?

He is not just going to go there and rubberstamp things and just do publicity for the president. I think he really wants to have a real say in policy. S. O'BRIEN: He talked a little bit in his remarks about his interest in global markets, in global policy, as well. So one has to imagine maybe that's a little bit of an insight in what he would be thinking about doing in his tenure.

SERWER: Very keen on China and our relationship with that country, which is absolutely critical to our economy and the future of our economic growth. So I think that is a key area. You're absolutely right.

M. O'BRIEN: Do you think Josh Bolten being chief of staff and a former Goldman Sachs guy, is that what kind of cemented this deal, perhaps?

SERWER: Well, I'm sure that played a role. I mean, there's been so many Goldman Sachs connections recently.

You've got Josh Bolten, Steve Friedman, Robert Rubin, all have gone from Goldman Sachs to Washington. Never mind Jon Corzine, the senator, now governor, of New Jersey.

You know, these people make a tremendous amount of money at Goldman Sachs. We're talking about hundreds of millions of dollars. And they feel the need for public service.

And, you know, this firm has a -- has a strong role in that. And that's actually what's going on here to a degree. Both Democrats and Republicans, interestingly, from that firm serving in Washington.

S. O'BRIEN: That is interesting.

SERWER: And so it will be interesting to see. I'm pretty sure he's going to be nominated -- I mean, I should say, confirmed.

S. O'BRIEN: Confirmed. I was going to ask you if there was going to be any struggle...

SERWER: I don't see any problem at all because folks on both side of the aisle have tremendous respect for him. Dana Bash talking about Chuck Schumer signing off on him.

S. O'BRIEN: Right. Coming out -- right, immediately, praising him.

SERWER: Right.

S. O'BRIEN: That kind of signals a lot. All right, Andy.

SERWER: I would think so.

S. O'BRIEN: Thanks a lot.

M. O'BRIEN: Thanks, Andy. Good job.

SERWER: Thank you. Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: A short break. We're back in just a moment with a look at the top stories.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Members of Congress are so upset about that raid on Congressman Jefferson's office -- he the target of a bribery investigation -- they're actually working when they should be off. That indicates they're very upset.

Joining us now from Washington, two CNN political contributors to talk about the political implications of this and some other matters. Democratic strategist James Carville and former Republican Congressman from Oklahoma, J.C. Watts. Gentlemen, welcome to the program. Good to have you with us.

Mr. Carville, sir, this whole notion that this is a constitutional issue, that the FBI took unprecedented action in going to that office, do you buy that?

JAMES CARVILLE, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Absolutely not. That's the most ridiculous thing I've heard. He had a subpoena he didn't respond to for 60 days. They found $90,000 of cash in his office. His chief -- somebody pleaded guilty to bribing him. The warrant was signed by a judge from another branch of government. All of the things the American people are facing, it looks absolutely absurd for Congressman Sensenbrenner to be holding hearings on this right now.

I think people look at this and say, there's something wrong. I mean, somebody's losing blood flow to their brain or something here. I mean, I can't even understand -- you know, and they've got to track these crooks down of both political parties. I don't see -- I can't imagine why anybody would be upset at this. I mean, if Congressman Jefferson is like anybody else, he's entitled to his day in court. But I think that the government is entitled to pursue an investigation, a legal one, and they went and they got the warrants. And I think they went by the book, as far as I know.

M. O'BRIEN: It makes a lot of us wonder what's in the water inside the beltway there.

CARVILLE: Boy, it does, it does.

M. O'BRIEN: J.C., what do you think about it?

J.C. WATTS, FMR. REPUBLICAN CONGRESSMAN: Well, I do believe there are constitutional issues that has to be defined. And I think they have to be considered. I don't think, from what I know about this case and all that I've read about it in talking to some of the people on the hill kind of behind the scenes, I don't think any constitutional issues have been violated. You know, we all need to be....

M. O'BRIEN: So what's the issue then? If the Constitution...

WATTS: We always need to be mindful of the Constitution, but I don't think anything's been violated here.

M. O'BRIEN: Well, I'm sorry, I don't understand what you mean, then. If the Constitution hasn't been violated, you start off by saying there are constitutional issues. Which is it?

WATTS: No, I'm saying there are always -- when you're talking about different branches of government and, you know, when you arrest somebody, there are constitutional issues. So you try to define if those constitutional issues have been violated. So I think that's what the chairman is doing. As said, I don't think that they're going to find that the constitution has been thrown out the window here. I think they're going to find that there's been grounds to do what has been done.

M. O'BRIEN: J.C., you got to admit, some of the Republicans -- of course Senator Frist has changed his tune on this, and has said, you know, that this doesn't seem appropriate. But they look as if they're trying to set themselves above the law, don't they, to a lot of constituents?

WATTS: Well, think that's -- that is a danger to say that, you know, you just throw rationale out the window. And the issue is, if a member of Congress, if he or she has drugs in their office, do you have the right to go in and, you know, seize those drugs? I mean, as James said, it is a bit ludicrous to say that, that you shouldn't go to a member's office if the member's doing something wrong.

But there are always -- in many of these issues there are fine lines. And I think that's what the chairman's trying to determine, if anything -- if the congressman's rights have been violated. And, again, I don't think -- and you know, I personally -- I like William Jefferson and I hope that they will find something. But I don't think that there's anything in the Constitution that's been trampled on in this case.

M. O'BRIEN: All right, let's flip this around for just a minute. James Carville here. When you consider the context of all of this and how Congress is feeling left out of the loop on a series of other issues involving this administration, if you put that in this context and then also look at the fact that, really, the FBI had a pretty strong case when they opened up William Jefferson's freezer door and found $90,000 in cash in there. Did they really have to do this, and can you understand how members of Congress might be a little perturbed by all this?

CARVILLE: No, absolutely not. This administration has slapped these people around from day one. They haven't said a thing -- you know, and these are people that concern themselves with more irrelevancies than you can imagine, from Terri Schiavo. And now you have a fact. They found $90,000 in his freezer. Fact, somebody pleaded guilty to bribing him. Fact, a judge signed off on this warrant. Fact, he didn't act on a subpoena that he got for 60 days. And this is what they're spending time doing? This is an example of a Congress being so out of touch and so involved with itself.

I don't know why there's all a sudden concern with the administration. This Congress has done everything -- has been a lap dog for this administration. And I think what's happening here is there's great fear that this justice department, the career people in the justice department, are going to start subpoenaing some of these Republican congressmen on all these different scandals here. And this is what this is about.

And the American people could give a hoot less that under a warrant somebody went and searched this congressman's office. What can you do -- hide a dead body in the closet up there and you can't go get it? I mean, it doesn't even -- it doesn't even make any sense.

M. O'BRIEN: J.C....

CARVILLE: And now it's election year and they're trying to say, oh, you know, Bush's popularity is down. These Republicans are stuck with Bush. They've been in his hip pocket. They're going to stay in hip pocket for this campaign. And Democrats are going to not let him go.

M. O'BRIEN: J.C., are they fiddling while Rome is burning? And how -- play this out for the midterm elections. How's it going to play out?

WATTS: No, I think -- again, I think Jim Sensenbrenner, if it was anybody outside of Jim Sensenbrenner, I would have a little concern about these hearings. But Jim Sensenbrenner, I mean, he has been a staunch defender of the Constitution. I don't think he's doing this for politics. I think...

M. O'BRIEN: But he's also been in Congress for an awfully long period of time, and maybe that's part of the problem.

WATTS: What does that have to do with anything, how long you've been in Congress?

M. O'BRIEN: Well, you lose perspective when you're inside the beltway.

WATTS: It doesn't have anything to do with how long you've been in Congress. You either defend the Constitution or you don't. I think he's got some question. But never -- why are we having hearings on immigration issues? I mean, there are constitutional issues there. I mean, there's oversight responsibilities that the Congress of the United States...

M. O'BRIEN: Well, I think that's the point. We'd rather have some substantive discussion, don't you think, about some real issues?

WATTS: Well, we -- why -- we ought to have substantive discussions about a lot of different issues. But, you know, if they don't, then we'd be on this TV, on this program this morning, saying, why didn't they look into that? So, hey, Miles, you guys are going to have questions about anything that's done. It's our responsibility, or it's our job, to come on here and psychobabble about, you know, these issues.

But the fact is, he has some concerns. And I think it's better to ask those questions. I don't think he's going to find anything. But I'd much rather him ask those questions and get it out there, prove to the American people that nothing has been violated in terms of the Constitution.

M. O'BRIEN: All right. Psychobabble?

CARVILLE: Yes, I think his concerns are idiotic, that's the problem. And they don't affect anybody's real life.

M. O'BRIEN: All right, we've got to go, gentlemen. Thank you very much. James Carville, J.C. Watts, always a pleasure having you drop by on AMERICAN MORNING.

WATTS: Thank you.

M. O'BRIEN: Back with more in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: CBS reporter Kimberly Dozier is in intensive care right now. She was wounded by a car bomb in Baghdad. She and her camera crew were reporting from outside their humvee at the time. The cameraman and the soundman were killed. Doctors at the U.S. military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany just recently offered a briefing on her prognosis.

Let's get right to CNN's Chris Burns. He's live for us in Landstuhl.

Chris, good morning.

CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

What we're hearing from the doctors here is yes, she's expected to pull through, but it's very, very difficult. She arrived here sedated and on a ventilator when she arrived on the medevac flight from Iraq. In Iraq, she was operated on twice for a shrapnel round to the head. That appears to be stable, but she has severe leg injuries that have to be dealt with, either -- both here and back in the States.

The question is, how much care will she undergo here, and how much care will she undergo back in the States? Her family's going to arrive tomorrow, talk with the doctors to see just how soon she should go back. The doctors would like to see her stabilized in the next couple, three days. They want to watch and make sure that she's stable before they put her on a flight across the ocean. That is what they're going to be watching for right now.

What's key, too, is the Kevlar, the Kevlar protection that she was wearing around her abdomen, as well as the helmet on her head, saved her life, according to the head of this hospital, Colonel Bryan Gamble. He said that if it weren't for that, she probably wouldn't be alive right now -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Gosh, well, it's so good that they were wearing -- that she was wearing her protection. Unfortunately it not save the lives of members of her crew.

Chris Burns for us with an update on the condition of Kimberly Dozier. Thanks, Chris -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Andy's here. What's next?

SERWER: Hey, we've got some business coming up. Remember RJR Nabisco? A Wall Street megadeal to tell you about that's almost that big. Plus, Segue may be readying itself to go public at some point down the road, you guys.

S. O'BRIEN: Remember when that thing was supposed to be it, the biggest, most -- remember when they did the original announcement?

SERWER: I still don't have one.

S. O'BRIEN: I know. Me neither.

M. O'BRIEN: You can't use them on the sidewalks here in New York. It's a problem.

S. O'BRIEN: Also ahead this morning, we're going to talk to a guy who's holding -- well, he's holding a baseball. That baseball actually. And it could be worth a lot of dough. He is the proud owner of Barry Bonds' 715th home run ball. What's he going to do with it? We'll ask him, just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BUSINESS HEADLINES)

M. O'BRIEN: Coming up on "CNN LIVE TODAY," Tony Harris sitting in for Daryn Kagan. Tony has a preview.

Hello, Tony.

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: You need an HOV lane for those things now?

Good morning, Miles.

"LIVE TODAY" for this Tuesday gets started in a few minutes. We've got a president and some peas.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NELSON MANDELA: They are a famous group.

(END VIDEO CLIP) HARRIS: Famous for sure. Nelson Mandela meets the Black Eyed Peas. Would you believe it? I wonder if Mr. Mandela has the peas on his iPod?

Five tons of fun. Scientists in Utah find a big one. Is it the planet's heaviest creature?

And this...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She went ahead of me and down the embankment, and within 10 seconds after that, I heard a big yelp from her.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Oh, man. A golden retriever tangles with a gator and wins. You won't believe how the owner freed his lucky pup from the jaws of death. Of course, the top stories and breaking news. Stay informed with us through the morning here on "CNN LIVE TODAY" -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: All right, lucky dog, lucky master.

All right, we'll see you, Tony. Thank you.

HARRIS: Sure thing.

M. O'BRIEN: Coming up on the program, we'll talk to the guy who caught Barry Bonds' 715th home run ball. So what's he going to do with it? Is that his kid's college education right there in his hands? Maybe, maybe, we'll see it on eBay, I'm sure. We'll find out in a moment.

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M. O'BRIEN: Well, it sure is a good thing Andrew Morbitzer was thirsty the other day as he sat in AT&T Park in San Francisco. Because, as it turns out, the concession stand might as well have been a bull's eye for Barry Bonds as he stroked his 715th dinger. That's the one that surpassed him in the record book, beyond the Great Bambino, Babe Ruth. There it was. You can't see it because it went in the concession stand, of course.

The ball bonked off two other fans heads, then into the grateful hands of one Andrew Morbitzer. He joins us now, and he has the ball with him. Look, it's Haley's Comet! Didn't work.

ANDREW MORBITZER, CAUGHT BONDS' 715TH HOMERUN: Thank you, Miles, but I'm keeping my eye on it.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes, you're keeping your eye on that one. That must have been a thrill. What was on your mind in that thing?

MORBITZER: It's been very exciting. And it was absolutely a thrill. It was just -- in the right moment at the right time. Didn't know that he was coming up to the plate. Heard him announced on the overhead system. Heard the roar of the crowd. And I look up and saw these arms overhead and the ball just kind of fell through into my hands.

M. O'BRIEN: Well, you know, it occurs to me -- there's a little twist here. You missed the actual homerun.

MORBITZER: I did. I did not get to see any of it.

M. O'BRIEN: So which -- I think, in the grand scheme, you ended up on the balance sheet ahead of the game here, right?

MORBITZER: Absolutely. Absolutely. I just didn't know that he was coming up to bat or I probably would have stayed in the stands to watch.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes, well -- now, you're a huge Bonds' fan? Because I know, given all the -- you know, there's been all these allegations of this steroid use, knowing or unknowing, since 1999, people throwing syringes on the field. All kinds of a cloud over this record. What are your thoughts on that?

MORBITZER: You know, I think it's just amazing that anybody can come close to anything that Babe Ruth did. The whole game of baseball, America's pastime, is built on Babe Ruth's back. And for another left-handed hitter to come up, break his record, I just think it's great talent. You know, it's great for the game. I love the Giants. I love San Francisco. So it's all -- it's just been fun, from my point of view.

M. O'BRIEN: So you're in the pro Bonds' camp?

MORBITZER: Yes, absolutely.

M. O'BRIEN: You don't see the downside to this?

MORBITZER: You know, it's just he's got a lot of talent. And he brings it out. And you can see it in the fans and everything when you go there. And it's just fun to be at a game and watch him play.

M. O'BRIEN: A lot of people would tell you it's a somewhat tainted record because of all that. And the other thing they throw in is that, you know, he has a bit of a prickly reputation with fans.

MORBITZER: You know, I had heard the same things. But after we got done at the game, he was going with the team to get on the bus and leave town for a game. And he made the effort to come up and see my wife, Megan, and I and told us congratulations. This is a guy who had just broken the record. And he came up and he told us congratulations, and asked us if we were going to retire on the ball and the whole thing. So he was just awesome to us.

M. O'BRIEN: A kinder, gentler Bonds maybe?

MORBITZER: Maybe. He was really nice to us, and just made it a lot of fun. M. O'BRIEN: Now, of course, now the next record is Hank Aaron's great record.

MORBITZER: Right.

M. O'BRIEN: I did a little bit of mathematics. He gets a homerun about every 12 and a half at bats, roughly, if he continues at his career-long pace. That's like 40 homeruns. That would be about 500 at-bats before he would do that. Do you think -- he's 41 years old. He's been ailing, knees, all kinds of issues. Do you think he'll actually beat Henry Aaron's all-time record?

MORBITZER: That will be the great controversy. I think there will be a good countdown to that one. When I saw the replays of him hitting this ball, he was in unbelievable shape. And he knew -- he slammed it. It went into centerfield, went all the way into bleachers and over to where I could get it.

M. O'BRIEN: No doubt.

MORBITZER: The amount of power that he put behind it to get to this one, he doesn't show any sign of letting up.

M. O'BRIEN: So maybe he's kind of back in his stride here. It will be interesting to watch the latter half of the season.

MORBITZER: It will be completely fascinating.

M. O'BRIEN: See how he hits him. Of course, you know, he's done, what, 71 in one season? Breaking the record?

MORBITZER: Seventy -- yes, over 70.

M. O'BRIEN: Oh, I forget the number, but you know, he's in the record book for that one. All right. So now, the big question is, what do you do with this thing? I assume you've -- have you heard from collectors yet? You going to do the eBay route? What are you going to do?

MORBITZER: Good question. Right now, we've just been having fun with the whole thing, getting pictures taken with family and friends.

M. O'BRIEN: Might as well enjoy I that.

MORBITZER: We are. You know, it's a fun piece of a special moment that somebody else had. And we're just going to be a part of it. We've seen through things in the media what collectors are already trying to speculate on what it's worth. But we haven't decided if we're going to sell or, you know, what it would be worth or anything like that.

M. O'BRIEN: What kind of numbers are you hearing?

MORBITZER: We've heard anything from 200 up to over 500 even.

M. O'BRIEN: $200,000 to $500,000, and you are hesitating about selling this baseball?

MORBITZER: Well, you know, we'll figure things out as time comes along. It's just really fun right now.

M. O'BRIEN: He's playing it coy, I think. He's jacking up the price. It's interesting. Can we show the smudge?

MORBITZER: Yes, yes.

M. O'BRIEN: If you look on the back here, where is it? It's right there, right?

MORBITZER: Yes, absolutely.

M. O'BRIEN: I don't know if we can pick it up on camera. Brad (ph), can you get that? He has a dark bat, so this sort of verifies that it was the actual Bonds' ball. I'm afraid to touch it because -- for fear of -- you know, you should have white gloves and have it, you know...

MORBITZER: We are carrying it in a sealed bag.

M. O'BRIEN: But -- well, that's going to be fun. And what a great story to tell the grandkids, whatever happens to the ball.

MORBITZER: Absolutely. Just a small part of history. So it's kind of fun.

M. O'BRIEN: You know, you still see kids going to the field with a mitt. Did you used to do what when you were a kid? I always used to have a mitt ready.

MORBITZER: You know, I played Little League and then went to some games with my dad and with my family. But I never had the mitt. I was just kind of always in outfield to enjoy the game, which is crazy because there were people trying to catch this with a mitt. And I caught it barehanded out of the air because it was just kind of coming at me.

M. O'BRIEN: It was meant to be.

MORBITZER: It was a good day.

M. O'BRIEN: Andrew Morbitzer, a fortuitous trip to the concession stand there at AT&T Field. Congratulations. Good luck.

MORBITZER: Thank you very much, Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: All right. Back with more in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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