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American Morning

Political Pressure From Foley's Lurid E-mails; Amish School Shooting; Violence in Iraq

Aired October 04, 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: Good morning to you.
I'm Miles O'Brien.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Soledad O'Brien.

This morning the Mark Foley e-mail page scandal is widening with warnings from at least one congressman that more shoes may drop. The big question this morning is, what did Republican leaders know and when did they know it?

Some are calling for House Speaker Dennis Hastert to step down, but the former high school wrestling coach is not releasing his hammer lock on the job yet.

CNN Congressional Correspondent Andrea Koppel joins us live from Capitol Hill.

Good morning, Andrea.

ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

Well, for the second day in a row, Speaker Dennis Hastert is digging in, working the phones, reaching out to members of his party and other conservatives, seeking to shore up support not just for himself, but for his party. Taking to the air waves, in fact, this hour in Chicago, while other Republicans are seeking to distance themselves from him.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KOPPEL (voice over): In Cincinnati, Ohio...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: John Boehner, welcome to the program. Good to have you...

KOPPEL: ... the second ranking Republican in the House took aim at the chambers' top Republican.

REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R), MAJORITY LEADER: I believe I talked to the speaker, and he told me it had been taken care of. And in my position, it's in his corner. It's his responsibility.

KOPPEL: Appearing on a syndicated radio show and in a startling move, Boehner broke ranks with Speaker Dennis Hastert. BOEHNER: The Clerk in the House who runs the page program, the Page Board, all report to the speaker, and I believe that it had been dealt with.

KOPPEL: But at the same time, Boehner said he disagreed Hastert should resign. In a letter to the editor of "The Washington Times," Boehner suggested, "Whoever leaked the sexually explicit instant messages exchanged between Congressman Foley and an underage page had a political agenda." Speaker Hastert agreed, and in a separate radio interview warned if he's forced to step aside, the Republican Party could suffer.

REP. DENNIS HASTERT (R), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: There's some people that try to tear us down. And we are the insulation to protect this country, and if they get to me, it looks like that, you know, they could affect our election as well.

KOPPEL: In fact, the Foley scandal is now ammunition in at least one Democrat's campaign ad. Minnesota Democrat Patty Wetterling rolled out this ad Tuesday...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It shocks the conscience. Congressional leaders have admitted covering up the predatory behavior of a congressman who used the Internet to molest children.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KOPPEL: Now, Democrats are quick to point out that one of the reasons that Patty Wetterling has been so quick out of the box with that ad is that she herself has been a children's advocate for the last 17 years. Nevertheless, as a growing number of Republicans both in and out of Congress are critical of Dennis Hastert and Republican leaders handling of the situation, his boss, the speaker's spokesman says, isn't going anywhere -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Andrea Koppel on Capitol Hill for us.

Thanks, Andrea -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: No Republicans, including President Bush, out of the line of fire on this one. Mr. Bush on a three-day West Coast campaign swing for Republican candidates. This morning he is in Scottsdale, Arizona, and so is Elaine Quijano.

Good morning, Elaine.

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Miles.

That's right, President Bush wraps up his West Coast campaign push today with stops here in Arizona, as well as Colorado. The president is going to try to focus attention on the issue of national security amid the continuing political fallout over the Mark Foley scandal.

On Tuesday in California, President Bush commented publicly for the first time on the situation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I was dismayed and shocked to learn about Congressman Foley's unacceptable behavior. I was disgusted by the revelations and disappointed that he would violate the trust of the -- of the citizens who placed him in office.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUIJANO: Now, the president also made clear that he is standing by House Speaker Dennis Hastert. The president said that he backed Hastert's call for an investigation. President Bush, though, clearly, Miles, trying to quell concerns over Republican leadership just five weeks before congressional midterm elections -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Elaine, tell us a little bit about what the president is doing today.

QUIJANO: He's got a couple of fund-raisers today. One here in Scottsdale, Arizona, for congressional candidate Rick Renzi. He's got another one in Englewood, Colorado, for gubernatorial candidate Bob Beauprez.

And in between, he'll be signing the Homeland Security Appropriations Act, some $34.8 billion for homeland security. And, really, Miles, this is part of the White House's strategy to tout Republicans' national security credentials ahead of the midterm elections -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Elaine Quijano in Scottsdale.

Thank you -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: The Foley scandal could not be timed any worse for Republicans who are hoping to keep control of Congress, now less than five weeks until Election Day. And Foley's solidly red district of Florida could very well turn Democrat blue.

CNN's John Zarrella live for us in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Good morning.

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

Well, as you can see behind me, we brought the CNN Election Express here to West Palm Beach, and it was right here yesterday late in the afternoon that Mark Foley's attorney and friend David Roth said that Mark Foley was not using this as an excuse for his inappropriate behavior. He also said he would not give us any details of what happened or give us any proof of what happened, but he said in the bombshell that Mark Foley had been abused as a teenager.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID ROTH, FOLEY'S ATTORNEY: As is so often the case with victims of abuse, Mark advises that he kept his shame to himself for almost 40 years. Specifically, Mark has asked that you be told that between the ages of 13 and 15, he was molested by a clergyman.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZARRELLA: But David Roth also insisted that Mark Foley is not a pedophile. Absolutely categorically denied that Foley is a pedophile. He also said that Foley admitted himself to a treatment facility last Friday late in the afternoon but would not say where that facility is.

Now the big problem facing the Republicans here, in less than five weeks, Soledad, is that, as you can see, this is the representative in Congress, District 16. The name, which won't change, is Mark Foley.

This is an optical scan ballot from St. Lucie County. Voters there will have to bubble in Mark Foley's name if they intend to vote for the Republican candidate who was chosen the other day, Joe Negron, who's from up the road here in Stuart, Florida.

So, the challenge, Republicans say, is to educate their voters that a vote for Mark Foley is actually a vote for Joe Negron -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: That could be a tough road to hoe, as they say.

John Zarrella for us this morning.

Thanks, John -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: In Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, five young Amish girls are still fighting for their lives this morning. And a glimmer of good news. One of them, age 12, is doing better, upgraded to serious condition.

Meanwhile, police now say they have a little more insight into why Charles Roberts shot them and five others in a one-room schoolhouse on Monday.

Our Senior Correspondent Allan Chernoff with more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SR. CORRESPONDENT: Police here believe they may have uncovered a possible motive behind the schoolhouse shooting: deep trouble hidden inside of a man who on the surface appeared to be an ordinary father.

(voice over): Minutes before milkman Charles Roberts shot 10 schoolgirls and killed himself Monday, he revealed his deepest, darkest secret to his wife Marie during their final phone conversation. Twenty years ago he, he claimed, he had sexually molested two of his very young relatives when they were 3 or 4 years old. A claim that police are still working to confirm.

As he held the schoolgirls at gunpoint, Roberts told Marie where his suicide notes to his wife and three children were located and that he would not be coming home. In this letter to Marie, Roberts wrote he had dreamed for two years of molesting children again. Police say Roberts may have planned out to carry out his dreams at the Amish schoolhouse.

COL. JEFFREY MILLER, COMMISSIONER, PA. STATE POLICE: It's very possible that he intended to victimize these children in many ways prior to executing them and killing himself.

CHERNOFF: Roberts also spoke in the note to his wife about his anger that his firstborn daughter Elise died only 20 minutes after her birth.

MILLER: Roberts was angry with god for taking Elise, has outlined in his suicide note, stating that it had changed his life forever, and he was not the same since it happened. Roberts expressed hate towards himself and towards god.

CHERNOFF: Police quickly arrived at the schoolhouse, and authorities say Roberts panicked and began shooting the girls execution style.

(on camera): Three of the children remain in critical condition. Two are in serious condition right now. Funerals are planned for the five children tomorrow and Friday.

Allan Chernoff, CNN, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

S. O'BRIEN: There are some new questions this morning about the security situation in Iraq. A brigade of Iraqi police are now taken off the streets. They were seen as a possible security risk themselves.

Barbara Starr is at the Pentagon.

Barbara, this is a pretty shocking story. The police removed because they were, in essence, as bad as the criminals?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Soledad.

This word just coming a few minutes ago when General Bill Caldwell, the chief U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad, spoke to reporters. It was one of the grimmest briefings that we have seen in some time from that podium in Baghdad.

A couple of details first.

General Caldwell saying that in the last 96 hours, 18 U.S. troops have died in Iraq, that attacks by IEDs and suicide car bomb attacks are at an all-time high. Then General Caldwell dropped what you might say is a bombshell.

An Iraqi police brigade has been pulled off the streets in Baghdad for its alleged complicity in this sectarian violence and militia activity. The general saying that the brigade of Iraqi police was alleged to be involved in criminal wrongdoing, in allowing death squads to operate on the streets of Baghdad, and that this Iraqi police brigade was thought to not be loyal to the government.

This is very significant, Soledad. It's something we have heard about. Everyone has talked about it as a suspicion, as a belief that the security forces in Iraq were infiltrated and more loyal to the militias and the death squads than they might be to the government there. But this now one of the most definitive actions taken to try and get the situation under control.

A police brigade of Iraqi forces pulled off the streets in Baghdad today, now undergoing criminal background checks -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Well, certainly, Barbara, we've had many reporters tell us that the Iraqis, you know, sort of your average Iraqi, is more afraid of the police than they are of the U.S. soldiers who are there. So what's the plan for returning or clearing out the infiltrators and then returning that brigade back to duty? Is there a plan, or do they think there's more than just the 8th Brigade that's been infiltrated?

STARR: Well, I think that they believe it's very possible, because now what they are doing -- and they've been doing it for some time, but they are going to continue, obviously -- is going through the Iraqi police forces unit by unit and conducting a pretty thorough look, trying to determine what -- what is going on and which forces can be determined to be loyal to the government, and then not allowing death squad activity to take place.

As for this unit that's been pulled off the street today, they will undergo criminal background checks. They will get a very thorough look. And the members that can stay in the unit will undergo retraining.

But here's a tough question, Soledad. The members that might be thought to be part of the militias, part of the death squads, are they just tossed back out on to the streets to continue that activity, or will they be prosecuted by the Iraqi central government?

All questions that nobody at this point really has the definitive answer to, but everyone does agree getting this under control, the militias and the death squads, is absolutely vital to getting control on the violence. Again, 18 U.S. troops dead in Iraq in the last 96 hours. It's a grim picture today.

S. O'BRIEN: It certainly is.

Barbara Starr for us.

Thanks, Barbara -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Let's get a check of the forecast now. Chad Myers at CNN Center.

Hello, Chad.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Miles.

(WEATHER REPORT)

M. O'BRIEN: All right. Thank you, Chad.

MYERS: You're welcome.

M. O'BRIEN: Coming up, the Mark Foley case has Republicans in damage control mode, to say the least. How much will the scandal cost the GOP leadership? We'll take a look.

Plus, Mark Foley's lawyer says he isn't making excuses to making advances on teenage pages. Or is he? We'll look into the abuse excuse ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Mark Foley's Republican counterparts are in full damage control right now. Foley's indiscretions already hijacking campaign agendas. And also caught up in the scandal is the House speaker, Dennis Hastert, who is being blamed by some in his own party for not stepping in sooner.

CNN Senior Political Correspondent Candy Crowley joins us live from Washington, D.C.

Nice to see you, as always, Candy -- thanks.

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SR. POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good to see you.

S. O'BRIEN: So what we know now, Foley out of the picture, moved on to rehab. His lawyer comes out occasionally to say he's gay, he was molested years and years ago. The revelations certainly are not going to help the story go away.

CROWLEY: Well, no. I mean, and that's the problem. It sort of gives all papers, us, another day of a headline. And time is a wasting, as they say.

With less than five weeks now, what Republicans need to do is be talking about something else. But this story is so understandable, so outrageous, and has so permeated the public air waves and the newspapers that that's almost an impossible task right now.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes. And that impossible task, to a large degree, has focused on the House speaker, which is also a big problem, not only for him personally, but for Republicans as a whole. They are focusing on the leadership of Hastert.

What kind of a position is he in right now?

CROWLEY: Tenuous, I would say. You know, here's -- here's the problem for Republicans. This took many of them, at least, by surprise.

They're not sure what's coming out next. They also know that should the speaker be forced out as speaker, that becomes about a week-long, if not a 10-day-long story. So they are kind of stuck in this place where neither option is very good.

It is their inclination because so many people like Dennis Hastert to be saying, you know, he needs to stay in there. On the other hand, when it looks like they were really slow with the switch, it's difficult for Republicans to stand behind him.

It is, at this point a -- I think you saw with Boehner that what he did was say, you know, listen, if the leadership didn't take this up when they should have taken this up, then they ought to be out. And then he wrote a letter saying, you know what? Denny Hastert ought to stay in.

So they are walking this fine line, some more adeptly than others.

S. O'BRIEN: It's putting everybody in kind of that tricky position of not knowing exactly what shoe is going to fall next, trying to be positioned on both side.

CROWLEY: Right.

S. O'BRIEN: Depending on which way it's going to go.

How about Tom Reynolds, another leadership position? What do you think happens with him?

CROWLEY: Well, there -- look, this was going to be a really difficult year for Republicans anyway. This has made it even more difficult, if that's possible. And anybody whose name has come up in connection with this, which was pretty much the top leadership, they have just become in more jeopardy.

And, you know, again, because it so dominates the agenda, even if they didn't do anything wrong, to have to explain this day after day after day, and again, to sort of wait for what's coming next, I mean, it's not just what they did. Presumably, they know what they did or didn't do. But are there going to be more Foley revelations?

S. O'BRIEN: No surprise that there's this new commercial. Patty Wetterling, a Democrat in Minnesota, is the first one to sort of come out of the box and run this commercial.

Let's show a chunk of it, if we can.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Congressional leaders have admitted covering up the predatory behavior of a congressman who used the Internet to molest children. For over a year they knowingly ignored the welfare of children to protect their own power.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

S. O'BRIEN: It goes on and on and on to talk about molesting, as well. No surprise. Do you think that Democrats make a mistake by grabbing this issue and running with it? There's certainly been enough scandal in the Democratic Party in the past.

CROWLEY: Well, on the -- on the upside, you know, one can see that this is really -- helps the Democrats. On the other hand, when you look at that, it's a little hard to keep the high road saying this is all about children when you've got a political ad out there.

So there, again, they are kind of walking a fine line. Most of them have sort of confined themselves to news conferences. This isn't a question that they have to bring up. You know, plenty of people are bringing it up for them.

So they do have to be careful to sort of balance this, "oh, my goodness, the children were in jeopardy" with using it for a campaign commercial. On the other hand, it is a very effective campaign commercial because there's no nuance to this particular subject. So it makes for pretty powerful negative ads.

S. O'BRIEN: Hey, you don't have to sit down and explain it to parents...

CROWLEY: Right.

S. O'BRIEN: ... and voters, maybe more importantly, what's going on here.

Candy Crowley, thank you, as always.

Part of CNN's best political team on TV.

Coming up this morning, e-mails, instant messages all key to the Foley investigation. We'll take a look this morning at why it's nearly impossible for anybody who wants to cover their digital tracks.

Plus, some in Nevada get involved in the war on drugs, but they're not exactly on the side you might think they may be on.

That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: The FBI, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the House Ethics Committee all investigating the conduct of former congressman Mark Foley. Key to that investigation, those e-mails and instant messages between Foley and male pages.

CNN Technology Correspondent Daniel Sieberg looks at how computer secrets can be unlocked.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The FBI won't discuss how they are trying to gather high-tech evidence in the Mark Foley case, but it's likely similar to methods used by law enforcement and businesses all the time. We don't yet know all the details of the Foley situation, but what if anyone wanted to conceal their online missteps?

JOHN MALLERY, COMPUTER FORENSICS EXPERT: But the man behind the curtain with the applications and operating system are doing behind the scenes, that's the realm of the computer forensics examiner.

SIEBERG: The oldest rule in the book for cyber sleuths is delete doesn't mean gone. As a computer forensics consultant, it's John Mallery's mantra.

MALLERY: You have a library. And for those of you that remember card catalogs, if you take a card out of the card catalog, the book is still on the shelf. When you delete a file, the pointers go away, the data still stays there.

It can stay there for five seconds. It can stay there for years. It stays there until the operating system decides to write over that deleted file with new data.

SIEBERG: Apparently the congressional page saved his e-mails and instant messages, possibly by simply copying and pasting them, or they may have been monitored electronically. Regardless, experts say it's nearly impossible for anyone to cover their virtual footprints.

Mallery gives me a rudimentary but effective demonstration of how deleted data can be recovered.

MALLERY: In this case, you have a deleted Word document. I'm going to scroll down. And what you are looking at here is the contests of this deleted Word document.

There's additional information added to the file when you create a document. So the user name can often be added to that document -- the company name, the computer name, the original location.

SIEBERG (on camera): So if I delete something, is it gone?

MALLERY: If you just delete something, no, it is not gone.

SIEBERG: And if I empty the recycle bin...

MALLERY: It's not gone.

SIEBERG: And if I format the hard drive?

MALLERY: It's not gone.

SIEBERG: More data could be uncovered as cyber sleuths dig deeper into Foley's digital domain, especially because he could have used numerous computers or different devices.

(voice over): Any time you turn on a Blackberry or computer, open a file and type a key, or send a message, there's a record. Mallery says anyone who believes otherwise is either arrogant or ignorant.

MALLERY: The only safe computer is one that you never turn on and you bury in the ground six feet under ground.

SIEBERG: Daniel Sieberg, CNN Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

S. O'BRIEN: We're going to have much more on the Foley scandal coming up in just a few minutes. If Foley is, in fact, charged, what could be his defense? We'll check in with our senior legal analyst, Jeff Toobin.

Plus, Madonna reportedly gets ready to open up her wallet and her home to help orphans in Africa. An update on that story as well.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

M. O'BRIEN: Disgraced former Congressman Mark Foley's lawyer says his client makes no excuses for the behavior that ruined his career, but he's offering up some statements that sound an awful lot like excuses. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID ROTH, FOLEY ATTY.: Mark is an alcoholic. He drank in secret. He did not drink in public. He had two lives with regard to his alcohol consumption.

Specifically, Mark has asked that you be told that between the ages of 13 and 15, he was molested by a clergyman.

Finally, Mark Foley wants you to know that he is a gay man.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

M. O'BRIEN: So here's the question. Is this part of a P.R. strategy or A legal strategy and what legal jeopardy might he or others face?

Our senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin is here to give us more.

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SR. LEGAL ANALYST: Most tragically, always picked last for basketball in gym class, Mark Foley. I mean, you know, how much can one man take?

M. O'BRIEN: In all seriousness, with all of the abuse-excuse implications, forget that for a moment, just legally, is he setting himself up for a legal case, or is this all about P.R.?

TOOBIN: It's about P.R., but it's not unrelated to the legal case. These -- this is a legally complex investigation. These sorts of investigations, prosecutors tend to have a lot of discretion, whether to bring the case or not. Sometimes they consider in -- whether to bring a case or not, what's the background of the person? Have they suffered in other ways? What's the reason for their misbehavior. So presumably, Assuming there's any method to the madness here, it is trying to create a picture of this guy as a victim of his problems rather than just a mere predator.

M. O'BRIEN: Well, you mentioned victims. For any crime to occur, there has to be a victim. At this point, do we know if these pages technically were under age at the time these e-mails were being sent?

TOOBIN: Don't know. And based on what we do know it seems likely they are minors, because pages are supposed to be 16 or older. Both Florida and Washington where this -- the crimes, if there were crimes, that were alleged to have taken place, the age of consent is 16. So it may not have had anything to do with minors. That doesn't mean he's necessarily out of the clear, but just it's one factor the FBI's going to have to consider.

M. O'BRIEN: You mentioned jurisdiction here -- Florida, Washington, maybe other jurisdictions. Who ends up, you know, leading the case on this, legally?

TOOBIN: This comes up all the time in criminal investigations. And often, there are bitter turf wars between the feds and the local authorities. It's ultimately worked out between them. The rule is supposed to be whichever jurisdiction has the stronger case goes first, or proceeds and the other steps aside. Doesn't always work that way. It tends to be if the feds want a case, they tend to take it given their greater resources.

M. O'BRIEN: So likely this will go federal?

TOOBIN: I think so, given that the FBI is also the lead agency, and, you know, Foley moved around a lot, Florida, Washington. So interstate is likely to play a big part.

M. O'BRIEN: Anytime you get involved in the Internet, you get into this jurisdiction issue. What charges may be in play here potentially. And we're getting down the road a little bit, I know.

TOOBIN: It's difficult, because this is not a standard crime that couldn't even have existed 10 years ago, because IMs didn't exist 10 years ago. There's a Florida that says anyone who utilizes a computer online service to attempt to seduce a child, that's a crime. Coercion and enticement is a crime under federal law if you use electronics to kind of encourage sexual activity across state borders involving a minor. That's one thing under investigation as well.

But do we know that minors are involved, as we said earlier? That's what the FBI is looking at. May not even be a crime.

M. O'BRIEN: As far as precedent going back to the mid-80s, there were never any criminal charges linked to that.

TOOBIN: Not at all. In fact, Gary Studs, it was a kid above the age of consent. So there was no crime there, and there was no issue of electronic communications among them. Same thing with Crane, the Congressman who had the affair with the young woman. They both suffered political consequences. Crane was voted out. Studs wasn't. But there was never a criminal investigation -- well, I don't know if there was an investigation, but there was never prosecution of either one.

M. O'BRIEN: What about other players and potential crimes there? Do you see that extending beyond him?

TOOBIN: I don't think so. The only possibility would be some sort of aiding and abetting. But in order to be guilty of aiding and abetting you have to intend that the other person commit a crime, and negligence is not a crime, incompetence is not a crime. That's really what Hastert and company are being accused of. But I don't see any chance of criminal liability for them.

M. O'BRIEN: If incompetence were a crime, we'd have some pretty full prisons, wouldn't we?

TOOBIN: That's right.

(CROSSTALK)

TOOBIN: Or incarcerated myself.

M. O'BRIEN: Never, never.

Jeff Toobin, our senior legal analyst, thank you -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Well, with his career certainly wrecked by scandal, Mark Foley is taking a very familiar road to recovery. He entered a treatment facility for alcoholism. But is rehab becoming a refuge for really famous names that are just in trouble?

CNN's Ted Rowlands took a look for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As Mark Foley rides out the storm in rehab, a storm he created by allegedly sending sexual messages to teenage boys, his lawyer is blaming alcohol for the former congressman's behavior.

ROTH: He is absolutely, positively not a pedophile.

ROWLANDS: Over the years, it's been a familiar drill. When the going gets tough, politicians and celebrities go to rehab. Just this year, Ohio Congressman Bob Ney checked into rehab for alcoholism after admitting he accepted inappropriate gifts and Rhode Island Congressman Patrick Kennedy retreated to a clinic after crashing his car on Capitol Hill.

REP. PATRICK KENNEDY (D), RHODE ISLAND: That's not even excuse for what happened Wednesday evening. But it is a reality of fighting a chronic condition for which I'm taking full responsibility. ROWLANDS: Mel Gibson blamed the booze after his drunken anti- Semitic tirade and checked in for treatment as did TV personality Pat O'Brien, who went into rehab after his sexual phone messages were leaked to the media.

HARVEY LEVIN, MANAGING EDITOR, TMZ.COM: What rehab does is it creates the safe haven for the celebrity. He basically has this kind of, this past to be able to do what he needs to do to for four or six or eight weeks and hopefully, for him there will be another scandal and people will be off his case.

ROWLANDS: Politicians going to rehab after getting in trouble is nothing new. More than 10 years ago, Oregon Senator Bob Packwood apologized for his behavior and checked into rehab after more than a dozen women accused him of sexual harassment.

You can even go back more than 25 years to Arkansas Congressman Wilbur Mills.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What was it like when you first had to admit to yourself that you were an alcoholic?

WILBUR MILLS, FMR. U.S. CONGRESSMAN: Oh, it was devastating. I had become the lowest thing that God ever let live.

ROWLANDS: Mills ran into trouble after he was caught with this exotic dancer, Fanny Fox, that caused an uproar on Capitol Hill. Mills checked himself in for treatment and retired two years later.

While skeptics may think that treatment is a copout, experts say alcohol and drugs can truly cause some people to do outrageous things.

DR. DREW PINSKY, ADDICTION SPECIALIST: Things they do when they're intoxicated, when they're in their disease, are shameful. They feel awful about it up. When they sober up, they look at it and can't believe they've done some of those things.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mark has been admitted into an alcoholism, substance abuse and mental health facility as an in-patient and we anticipate that he will be there a minimum of 30 days and possibly, if not probably, longer.

ROWLANDS (on camera): Medical experts say rehab should last as long as it takes for somebody to start responding to treatment. But when it comes to politicians, or celebrities in trouble, some people think that rehab lasts as long as it takes for a story to go away.

Ted Rowlands, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

M. O'BRIEN: Happening this morning in New Orleans, a court date for the owners of St. Rita's Nursing Home, where 35 people died in flooding after Hurricane Katrina. They will formally hear the charges against them. Salvador Mangano and his wife Mabel facing negligent homicide and cruelty charges. In Texas, a guilty verdict for the company that owned a bus that exploded during the mass evacuation from Hurricane Rita outside of Houston. Twenty-five people died in the explosion. Owner James Maples convicted on maintenance and inspection charges, but acquitted on the most serious charge of conspiring to lie on driver's log books. Maples could face prison time and more than a million dollars in fines.

He fought in Iraq, earned a Purple Heart, but Specialist Darrell Anderson went AWOL in Canada rather than returning to the war. Now Anderson has surrendered. He turned himself in to military officials at Fort Knox. Anderson says he went AWOL to make up for sins he committed in Iraq, his words. His attorney expects Anderson will be discharged in a few days without facing any charges.

In Nevada, a campaign to legalize marijuana is bringing together some unlikely bedfellows. Priests, preachers and rabbis are offering their support to a November ballot initiative.

We get more from Victoria Campbell of our affiliate KRNV in Reno.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VICTORIA CAMPBELL, KRNV REPORTER (voice-over): It's one of the more unlikely groups you might expect to be supporting the legalization of marijuana. Religious clergy, including leaders of various Christian and Jewish faiths, say they're in support of Question 7, which would legalize marijuana use by adults while regulating and taxing the manufacture, distribution and sale of the drug.

NEAL LEVINE, CAMPAIGN MANAGER: The coalition is multi- denominational. It is statewide. And we're getting supports from all aspects of the religious community.

REV. PAUL HANSEN, HOLY SPIRIT LUTHERAN CHURCH: I think it's really an issue of justice and morality. The current laws do not really work in terms of keeping our children away from marijuana.

DICK GAMMICK, WASHOE COUNTY DISTRICT ATTY: This is about drugs, a known, dangerous drug. And when I say gateway drug, I don't mean people are necessarily addicted to marijuana and have to move on. They make you either addicted, which you can get, or they make a choice to move on to other drugs.

CAMPBELL: Washoe County District Attorney Dick Gammick says drug laws have been successful and have helped drug users recover from addictions.

GAMMICK: They spend at least a year there. They have to get a job. They have to pay back. They have to finish their education. They have to be drug tested and lay off drugs. If they successfully complete, those charges are dropped and their records are expunged and we have a productive citizen. Now, you give me a program that's better than that. CAMPBELL: But religious leaders say it's time to simply admit defeat with many drug laws, and they say voting yes on Question 7 is the way to do it.

HANSEN: Do we just pretend that we can legislate it away? Do we pretend that we can use police and the court system to legislate it away? Experience has shown that that isn't working.

CAMPBELL: In Reno, Nevada, Victoria Campbell for CNN.

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M. O'BRIEN: If Nevada's Question 7 is passed, it would remove penalties for adults who use marijuana in their homes and create a system for the legal growth and sale of up to an ounce of pot to adults -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Ahead this morning, Queen Elizabeth has often been criticized for how she responded to the death of Princess Diana. But a new film might give you a little sympathy for the queen. We'll explain, up next on AMERICAN MORNING.

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S. O'BRIEN: They say she'll always be remembered as England's rose. Well, now there's a new film reliving the difficult days that immediately followed the death of Princess Diana. The central character is Queen Elizabeth II.

CNN's Brooke Anderson has this look at the queen.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Diana, princess of Wales, has died after a crash in Paris.

ANDERSON (voice-over): It was a moment in history none will soon forget: the most famous woman in the world, the most photographed, the most glamorous, Princess Diana, killed in a car crash. Nine years later, people are still fascinated with her. The death of the people's princess was marked by an outpouring of public grief never before seen, but marked inside the British royal family with private grief never seen.

HELEN MIRREN, ACTRESS: About the flag above Buckingham Palace, he thinks it should be flying at half mast?

ANDERSON: It is the story behind the provocative new film "The Queen," reconstructing the days after Diana's death. "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT" can tell you Dame Helen Mirren, who plays Queen Elizabeth, says playing a woman who was publicly scrutinized for all the things she didn't say was not an easy thing to do.

MIRREN: It was such a dangerous thing to go into. If we made a misstep, it would have been -- not only would it have been humiliating and upsetting to know that people don't like your work, that's bad enough -- but I think also one would have felt that we'd betrayed the real people.

ANDERSON: And just as Princess Diana created public interest while she was alive, her death created even more public interest for what was happening behind the palace gates.

MIRREN: It is their express wish that this shall be a private funeral.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right. The public (INAUDIBLE), the British people -- you don't think a private funeral might be denying them a chance...

MIRREN: A chance to what? This is a family funeral, Mr. Blair, not a fairground attraction.

ANDERSON: And leading the call for public mourning, Prime Minister Tony Blair.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It would be a great comfort to your people, and would help them with their grief.

MIRREN: Their grief? If you imagine I'm going to drop everything and come down to London before I attend to my grandchildren, who just lost their mother, then you're mistaken.

ANDERSON: Dame Helen tells "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT" she understood Queen Elizabeth's position, where family came first.

MIRREN: I was on her side. I felt she was behaving the right way. That's what I felt. And I felt the public were behaving in the wrong way.

ANDERSON: Dame Helen says it was Princess Diana's public life that came at odds with the private family. And what wasn't seen was the private grief of any family.

Brooke Anderson, CNN, New York.

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M. O'BRIEN: "CNN NEWSROOM" just moments away. Fredricka Whitfield sitting in for Heidi Collins today. Hello, Fred.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello to you, Miles. Well, join us in the "CNN NEWSROOM."

Another day, more salacious details surface in the case of the Capitol Hill e-mail scandal. Live to Washington we'll go.

Three school shootings in the span of a week. Today kids on guard. Our roundtable with big city high school principals.

And put the dermatologist on speed dial. That's what I always do. If beauty is skin deep, do the ladies lose? Women's skin wrinkles much faster than men's. Bet you didn't know that, Miles. We'll join Tony Harris, and me, I'm in for Heidi Collins today. We get started at the top of the hour. Keep that dermatologist on speed dial. That's the lesson of the day.

M. O'BRIEN: I'd like to get the bags out.

WHITFIELD: You have nothing to worry about.

M. O'BRIEN: I'm going to get a little more sleep, I think.

All right, thank you, Fred, we'll see you.

Coming up, an incentive for folks who need a new washing machine or fridge, but can't afford one. No sales tax. We're "Minding Your Business" ahead.

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S. O'BRIEN: Coming up at the top of the hour, it is on the way. You're going to want to beat the winter chill. We'll take a look at the cost of staying warm this season.

And two planes touch in midair. We're going to talk to somebody who was on this place, the lucky plane. The other plane had survivors. AMERICAN MORNING continues right after this.

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S. O'BRIEN: That's it for us on AMERICAN MORNING. "CNN NEWSROOM" begins right now.

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