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Courting Conservatives?; Terrorism Plot; Terrorism Arrests; Remembering Laura; High Cost of Fuel

Aired June 05, 2006 - 06:00   ET

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

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. I'm Miles O'Brien.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Soledad O'Brien.

Here's a look at what's happening this morning, Monday, June 5.

President Bush is going to speak out today in favor of a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. The Senate will debate the amendment today, could vote on it on Wednesday.

An Amber Alert in Texas has been issued for a baby girl. There she is. She's just 4 days old. The suspected kidnapper posed as a hospital worker, then visited the baby's family at home. The baby, Priscilla Maldonado has jaundice and needs medical treatment.

M. O'BRIEN: In Canada, terror suspects expected in court tomorrow after that huge sting over the weekend. Fifteen of 17 arrested in a plot to blow up landmark buildings in Toronto to face charges. All are Muslim men and boys said to be inspired by al Qaeda.

In London, a harrowing report out this morning on those suicide bombings that killed 52 on subways and buses nearly a year ago. It says rescuers were hampered by a communication breakdown. The report warns the problems need to be fixed or lives might be lost in the future.

S. O'BRIEN: The first National Guard troops are reporting to the U.S.-Mexico border today. Fifty-five troops will begin working on a fence, setting up lighting and building a road in southern Arizona. It's all part of the president's plan to send up to 6,000 National Guard troops to help at the border.

An 8,500-acre brushfire is threatening power lines in the Florida Everglades. Even though the fire is growing, part of U.S. 27 west of Fort Lauderdale is actually back open right now.

Brings us right to a forecast with Rob Marciano. He's in for Chad this morning.

Hey, Rob, good morning.

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Soledad. Good morning, Miles.

(WEATHER REPORT) Soledad, back up to you.

S. O'BRIEN: All right, Rob, thank you.

MARCIANO: You bet.

S. O'BRIEN: Today, President Bush is once again going to push for an amendment banning same-sex marriage. It's expected to come up for a vote in the Senate on Wednesday. The issue helped the president get re-elected, but some conservatives believe that he hasn't made it a very high priority since then.

Americans seem about evenly split on the issue. A new Gallup poll that found 50 percent support a constitutional ban on gay marriage, 47 percent are opposed.

CNN congressional correspondent Dana Bash has more for us this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANA BASH, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Gay rights activists are gearing up to blanket Capitol Hill.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Does anyone need any help?

BASH: And urge senators to vote against a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage.

JOE SOLMONESE, HUMAN RIGHTS CAMPAIGN: I think what we're really talking about this week is a conversation, both from the White House and in the leadership in the Senate, about writing discrimination into the Constitution. And that couldn't be more out of step with where the American people are right now.

BASH: But for social conservatives, prohibiting same-sex marriage is a top priority. These ads are targeting senators in more than a dozen states.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Homosexual activists don't care if children are deprived of a mom or dad. Only a constitutional amendment can protect marriage from attack.

BASH: In 2004, President Bush and Republican congressional leaders talked up a federal ban on gay marriage to galvanize social conservatives in key swing states.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Because the union of a man and woman deserves an honored place in our society.

BASH: Since then, the president has been virtually silent.

And veteran activists, like Richard Vigurie, say it's just one reason the Republican rank and file are unhappy with their leadership in Washington. RICHARD VIGURIE, CONSERVATIVE ACTIVIST: They just feel they've been betrayed. They feel abandoned by the president, by his aides in the White House, by the Republican leaders in the House and the Senate. I've never seen conservatives so frustrated, disappointed and many of them, quite frankly, angry.

BASH: That's exactly why conservative organizers say Congress must debate issues like the gay marriage ban if Republicans want disillusioned conservatives to vote this November.

PETER SPRIGG, FAMILY RESEARCH COUNCIL: We don't have an interest in re-electing a Republican Congress if they're not willing to fight for pro-family issues.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

S. O'BRIEN: President Bush is expected to continue his push during a Rose Garden event this afternoon. CNN is going to bring it to you live at 1:45 p.m. Eastern. That's just about 15 minutes before the Senate debate is supposed to begin -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: The secretary of defense under fire again. Potential presidential candidate and Senator Joe Biden calling for Donald Rumsfeld to step down. This, in the wake of that alleged Marine massacre in Haditha, Iraq. Biden is the Senior Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He says Rumsfeld should be held accountable.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOSEPH BIDEN (D), FOREIGN RELATIONS CMTE.: He should be gone. He shouldn't be in his office tomorrow morning. When you make serious mistakes, you step forward and you acknowledge them and you walk away. Presidents can't and shouldn't do that. Secretaries of defense can and should.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

M. O'BRIEN: While the Haditha investigation continues, so, too, does another probe into the killing of a civilian in Hamandiyah, west of Baghdad, in April. Seven Marines, a Navy medical corpsman are behind bars facing charges in that case.

But a third investigation into U.S. military atrocities now over. The Pentagon now saying U.S. troops did nothing wrong in a March raid that left 11 civilians dead in Ishaqi.

More startling sectarian violence across Iraq this morning. Gunmen on Sunday stopped two vans carrying mostly students. They reportedly separated the Shiites from the Sunnis and then killed the Shiites, 20 in all. It happened in Baquba, which is just north of Baghdad.

CNN "Security Watch" for you.

The arrest of 12 men and 5 teens in Canada in an apparent plot to bomb buildings in Toronto. Authorities believe the group was inspired by al Qaeda.

More now from CNN's Kyung Lah.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): A U.S. counterterrorism source says there was contact between these suspects and suspects arrested in both the U.K. and the U.S.

We're also learning more about the Canadian suspects. An attorney for two of them says that the charges are vague and his client is a college graduate who has no criminal history. The families talking outside of the courthouse say that this must all be a mistake.

Canadian authorities, though, paint a very different picture, saying the 17 suspects acquired three times the ammonium nitrate used to blow up the federal building in Oklahoma City. And equipment, like a cell phone, connected to a detonator. The targets: Toronto's high- profile buildings, according to a senior Canadian official.

Now the Toronto police held a news conference urging calm in the community. The chief of police reacting to the vandalism of a mosque where 30 windows were smashed. The chief of police does promise the vandalism case will be fully investigated.

On CNN's "LATE EDITION WITH WOLF BLITZER," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice applauded the Canadian effort, calling it an example of good police work.

Kyung Lah, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

S. O'BRIEN: Meanwhile in Britain today, police are set to question two brothers suspected of building a chemical weapon. Two men were arrested during a raid on their house on Friday.

CNN's Paula Hancocks is live for us in London this morning.

Hey, Paula, good morning.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

Well the two brothers are currently being held in custody in the central London police station behind me. Now one of them, Abdul Kahar is still under heavy medication as he was shot during this predawn raid on Friday morning at his home.

Now he has said that there have been some conflicting reports as to how he came to be shot. The police said that there was a scuffle. Abdul Kahar has denied that through his solicitor, saying he was just walking down the stairs, unarmed, and was shot then without warning.

Now he's still under medication, cannot be questioned yet. Maybe later on this Monday police are hoping to talk to him. But his brother, Abul Koyair, has been questioned on Friday and on Sunday.

Now there has been speculation as to what exactly this intelligence was that led the police, more than 200 of them, to this house in east London. It has been suggested it could have been a chemical weapon or device. Police not commenting on that -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Do we know anything about what they gathered in the search of the suspects' house -- Paula?

HANCOCKS: Well there's been a meticulous forensic search ongoing at this particular house in east London. It started on Friday morning. It's still ongoing now on Monday morning.

As yet, the police haven't told us that they have found anything, which could mean either that the intelligence that they relied upon for this particular raid was not as concrete as they thought it was. Or they are also worried that there could be a chemical device or chemical materials being stored somewhere else in London.

S. O'BRIEN: Paula Hancocks for us this morning in London.

Paula, thanks.

You want to stay tuned to CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Happening in America this morning.

A search in Texas today for a missing 5-year-old baby girl. Police say Priscilla Maldonado was taken by a woman posing as a nurse from her mother's house on Sunday. The fake nurse had become friends with the baby's mother at the hospital when the baby was born.

In New York, the search for a missing 3-year-old boy is over. Brandon Aponte (ph) was found on a street in Brooklyn just about four hours ago with his alleged kidnapper. Police suspect 13-year-old Tatiana Morales (ph) lured the boy out of his father's tattoo parlor Saturday. She is being questioned. The boy is in the hospital right now for observation.

In Indianapolis, hundreds gathered at a memorial at the home where seven people were killed Thursday night. The victims included three children. Police have two people in custody. Formal charges against the alleged shooter should come today. The prosecutor says he'll seek the death penalty.

Two men who escaped from a D.C. prison Saturday back behind bars. The last to be captured was found less than seven hours ago after a short foot chase in Virginia. The other apprehended early Sunday, also in Virginia. The two escaped by breaking out a prison window.

A 44-year-old D.C. man faces charges of unlawful entry after -- and disorderly conduct after being caught trying to jump the White House fence. Roger Witmer never made it over. He did toss a plastic bag onto the grounds. The area was cordoned off while it was inspected. It was harmless. And in Minnesota, big party for some special twins today. A farewell celebration for 6-month-old Abbigail and Isabelle Carlsen, the formerly conjoined twins surgically separated last month at the Mayo Clinic. They are headed home to Fargo, North Dakota tomorrow. You bet you.

S. O'BRIEN: Cute little babies, aren't they?

M. O'BRIEN: Yes, they are.

S. O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, family and friends remember a young Michigan woman who was a victim of both a fatal highway crash and then mistaken identity. We'll explain.

M. O'BRIEN: Then remember those veterans' records that got stolen? It put millions of vets at risk for identity theft. Well, it's worse than they thought. Now active duty troops may be at risk as well.

S. O'BRIEN: Also, civilians are now able to help to fight illegal border crossings by just clicking onto their keyboard and clicking their mouse. We'll tell you how they're doing that.

And Carrie Lee joins us with a look at the business headlines.

Good morning.

CARRIE LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. Thank you.

Oil prices on the rise. Once again above 73 bucks a barrel. Could turbulence in the energy market make for a bumpier ride on Wall Street? We'll have that story coming up on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Happening this morning.

President Bush will speak in favor of gay marriage -- a gay marriage ban today, I should say. The Senate is to debate an amendment to the Constitution today. A vote expected later this week.

In Texas, a virtual border patrol. Texas to set up Web cameras on its border with Mexico. Anyone can watch anywhere in the world. There will be a toll free number people can call to report suspicious activity.

Today is the 25th anniversary of the day that the AIDS virus was officially identified. Sixty-five million people are infected with HIV worldwide. Twenty-five million have died of it since 1981 -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Family and friends honoring the memory of a young Michigan woman, the victim in a tragic case of mistaken identity. It's a story we first told you about last week.

Carol Costello has more this morning. She's live in the newsroom with the very latest on this.

Hey, -- Carol.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Morning, Soledad. Good morning to all of you.

For weeks they prayed for her recovery from a near fatal car wreck, and then came news of a tragic mix-up. Laura VanRyn, it turns out, was buried under a tombstone bearing the name of her college classmate.

On Sunday, grieving friends and relatives said their final good- byes.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Nearly 2,000 people attended a memorial service Sunday in Kentwood, Michigan for Laura VanRyn. The 22-year-old Taylor University student was mistakenly thought to have survived an April highway crash in which four students from the Indiana school and a school employee were killed. For weeks, everyone thought Laura was alive and that her classmate, 19-year-old Whitney Cerak, had died in the crash.

VanRyn's boyfriend was a constant visitor to the rehab facility where the patient he thought was Laura lay in a coma.

ARYN LINENGER, LAURA VANRYN'S BOYFRIEND: I saw her, her hands, her feet, her complexion, and I couldn't believe that it wasn't her.

COSTELLO: Last week, as the woman emerged from her coma, Laura's family and her boyfriend realized it wasn't Laura in the hospital bed, but Whitney.

LINENGER: Many of you today are probably wondering how a man could date a girl and love a girl for three years and not know that it was her. I ask myself that same question.

COSTELLO: The Indiana coroner's office says Laura and Whitney were misidentified at the scene of the accident. He later apologize for the tragic mistake.

The VanRyn family has received permission to exhume Laura's body and have her buried closer to their home.

As for Sunday's memorial service, it was about more than just mistaken identity, it was about the life of Laura VanRyn and how she touched the lives of others.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And it was interesting to me how losing someone you love so much can change your perspective on everything. (INAUDIBLE) long for the day when I will be able to face you once more.

(END VIDEOTAPE) COSTELLO: The family of Whitney also held a service on Sunday and offered prayers for the VanRyns. Their pastor described the reunion between Whitney and her parents after the mistake was discovered as a scene from heaven.

But as for Laura's family and her boyfriend there, you know it's sort of like retroactive grieving. They're just trying to believe that this all actually happened.

S. O'BRIEN: It's just a brutal story for these people, all of them, everybody involved. It's just horrible.

Carol, thank you for the update and some clarification on really what had happened -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: That stolen laptop with veterans' personal data had more on it than we first thought. Veterans Affairs now saying personal data from as many as 50,000 active duty Navy and National Guard members also stolen. Earlier, the agency had said records included the identity info on about 27 million veterans.

And if you've used hotels.com within the last three years, you might want to check with the company. A laptop computer with personal information on about 243,000 customers stolen in Washington State. A company spokesman says the stolen info did not include any Social Security numbers -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: It's time to check the CNN "Gas Gauge" this Monday morning. If you're going to fill up at the pump, expect to pay about $2.86 a gallon. Here's a little good news, that's down a nickel from last month, -- now we're talking real money, right -- and gas cost about $2.91 a gallon. A year ago, though, gas was just above two bucks, $2.10 a gallon.

Today we begin our five-part series on AMERICAN MORNING. It's called "Paying the Price in the Heartland." We're going to examine the impact of rising costs of fuel on everyday Americans, farmers, truckers.

CNN's Dan Lothian spends the week in Iowa. Here's a preview of what we're going to see this week.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Good morning.

You know ever since gas prices started going up, so much of the focus has been on major cities and how people there are dealing with the crisis. Well we decided to come here to the heartland, to Iowa, to see how folks here are dealing with it.

We spent a day with an independent trucker who has had to fine tune his engine. He has to cut costs. He's even a little pickier about the kind of cargo he carries in order to save money.

We also spent a day on a farm with a farmer who has a lot of large pieces of equipment. He has large tractors. Obviously they use a lot of diesel fuel. He talks about how it has changed his life.

And then we went for a commute with some rural commuters who, obviously, are putting on hundreds of miles each week on their cars and, obviously, spending a lot more money.

That and much more beginning next hour on AMERICAN MORNING.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

M. O'BRIEN: Thank you, Dan, we'll see you then.

Also ahead, parents, listen up, you're strict. Right, you're strict?

S. O'BRIEN: I'm very strict.

M. O'BRIEN: You're strict?

S. O'BRIEN: Yes.

M. O'BRIEN: You might be doing the wrong thing, -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: No, I don't think so.

M. O'BRIEN: You might be causing health problems for your kids.

S. O'BRIEN: I doubt it.

M. O'BRIEN: We'll tell you about a report on that. Parents might want to think about it before they punish that young junior. That cute little -- who would punish that cute little thing? Anyway, I'm kind of a softie, as you can tell.

And think the drivers you commute with don't know how to drive? Of course you do.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes.

M. O'BRIEN: Well let's make it official. We have the test scores. They are in. We'll tell you which state has the dumbest drivers ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: A look at some of the most popular stories on cnn.com right now.

Charges are coming for a Washington man who tried to jump the White House fence. He didn't get over before police pounced on him. He did throw a plastic garbage bag, though, on some lawn. Secret Service is now examining it. The man faces unlawful entry and disorderly conduct charges.

There will be a big party tomorrow in Hell -- Hell, Michigan, that is. They're partying because tomorrow is June 6, 2006. Of course that would be 6-6-06. And the northeast may be a dangerous place to drive. A new insurance survey found Rhode Island drivers tested the worst -- this is no surprise for me -- on a written driving test. Washington, D.C., Massachusetts and New Jersey also did poorly. Drivers in Oregon had the best scores. I'm surprise, New York City didn't -- or New York, in general, didn't have particularly bad drivers.

LEE: No.

M. O'BRIEN: There are plenty of them, right where we are right now.

S. O'BRIEN: I'm shocked. I want a recount. Why are we not in the top five?

LEE: Saw a few on my way to work this morning, in fact.

S. O'BRIEN: Exactly.

M. O'BRIEN: I think upstate saved Manhattan in this case, probably.

LEE: That's true. It averages out.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes. Yes.

LEE: Exactly.

S. O'BRIEN: Really? You don't spend a lot of time driving through upstate, do you? Well I have.

M. O'BRIEN: All right, let's get the forecast in. Rob Marciano is in Atlanta where they drive so poorly, too.

MARCIANO: Yes, it's no good down here either.

M. O'BRIEN: No.

MARCIANO: You're right about that (INAUDIBLE). Remember that well.

(WEATHER REPORT)

Back to you guys in New York.

S. O'BRIEN: All right, Rob, thanks.

M. O'BRIEN: Thank you, Rob. Appreciate it.

MARCIANO: See you guys.

M. O'BRIEN: Oil prices going up this morning. Carrie Lee is here with word on why.

LEE: We are up above $73 a barrel. Once again, up above a dollar early this Monday morning. What's happening now is Iran's supreme leader has said that if his country is punished for its nuclear program, well then Iran could impose sanctions or impose -- jeopardize the...

S. O'BRIEN: Easy for you to say this morning. What's that?

LEE: I know.

M. O'BRIEN: It's Monday. It's Monday.

LEE: Let me start again. Jeopardize the world's oil supply. Now this is different from what Iranian officials have said in the past. They have said they would not do that. So this is causing some issues with oil prices this morning. Once again, above $73 a barrel. This, after oil rose $2 on Friday when eight oil workers were kidnapped in Nigeria.

So the broader question is, will rising oil prices affect the world economy and the U.S. economy? We've had a couple of things going on here. You know the Fed has been trying to impose a soft landing, curbing inflation with rising interest rates without doing anything too drastic. Wall Street is now also worried that recent economic news, we had the lackluster jobs report on Friday. Also we've had weak readings on consumer confidence, among other things, could show the economy is slowing a little bit too fast.

Quick check on stocks, last week we did see a mixed market. The Dow Jones industrials were a little big lower. S&P and Nasdaq gained a bit of ground, you can see here. And this morning it is looking like a little bit of a weak start once again for stocks.

M. O'BRIEN: Thank you very much, Carrie.

S. O'BRIEN: OK.

LEE: OK.

S. O'BRIEN: Doom and gloom Monday.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: Wow! All right.

Carrie, thanks.

LEE: OK.

M. O'BRIEN: See you in a bit.

Back with more in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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