Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Rice in South Korea; The Fight For Iraq; Mark Foley's Abusive Priest; Foley Fallout; NFL Stadiums Threat; Oregon Child Missing

Aired October 19, 2006 - 10:00   ET

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

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Leads to another blot on the catholic church.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: The secretary of state in Seoul, pushing South Korea to be tough with sanctions against the nuclear North.

HARRIS: They dropped like a rock, but why? The Wall Street connection to your gas tank this Thursday, October 19th. You're in the NEWSROOM.

Condoleezza Rice working on a unified front in Asia. The latest stop for Washington's top diplomat, South Korea, just across the border from Pyongyang's defiant nuclear program. Rice picking up more support for international sanctions against the North. CNN's Zain Verjee is the only TV journalist accompanying rice on her travels and she joins us via broadband from the South Korean capital.

Zain, good morning to you.

ZAIN VERJEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Tony. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says the U.S. is still open and willing to talk to North Korea. She said, though, that it has to give up its nuclear program and it's got to get back to the six-party talks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CONDOLEEZZA RICE, SECRETARY OF STATE: We want to leave open the path of negotiation. We don't want the crisis to escalate. And the sooner that North Korea would choose to unconditionally come back to the table and take up the very good statement or very good agreement that is there, framework agreement that is there as of September, it would be to the betterment of everyone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VERJEE: She's hoping that a senior Chinese official that's been dispatched to Pyongyang can convince North Korea to do just that, to get back to talks. You know, on the plane over here, a senior administration official told us, too, that that Chinese official is carrying a very strong message to Pyongyang. We don't know yet, though, what it is.

Tony. HARRIS: Zain, help clear this up for us. South Korea clearly has its concerns, but it signed on to the U.N. Security Council resolution. Is it now willing, in a meaningful way, to step up on the enforcement end of this?

VERJEE: South Korean foreign minister Ban Ki-Moon said, look, the sanctions have been passed and they've got to be enforced. He said that in a press conference earlier today. Publicly, South Korea is saying that it's going to play ball. But a lot of analysts that we've spoken to in the region here say that it's going to be difficult for South Korea to do that. South Korea, for years, has pursued a policy of economic engagements with North Korea. And what we're hearing now may just be a lot of noise and a lot of emotions, these analysts say, from South Koreans. But in the long run, they're not willing to reverse their policy of engagement

HARRIS: CNN's Zain Verjee for us from Seoul, South Korea, traveling with the secretary of state.

Zain, thank you.

COLLINS: More bombs and bullets across Iraq today, killing dozens of people. The surge in attacks is now prompting the U.S. military to announce a refocus of security measures in Iraq. CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr joins us now with the details.

Refocus. What does that mean, Barbara?

BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that is a pretty stunning admission by the military this morning, Heidi, and we are trying to figure out exactly what that does mean. General Bill Caldwell, the chief U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad, met with reporters just a little while ago and said that the violence is now, in his words, so disheartening that the feeling is the two month old Baghdad security plan, that effort to secure the capital from the sectarian violence, simply isn't working. They need to take another look at it. They need to figure out what to do. Have a listen to General Caldwell.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAJ. GEN. WILLIAM CALDWELL, SPOKESMAN, MULTINATIONAL FORCE IRAQ: The violence is, indeed, disheartening. In Baghdad alone, we've seen a 22 percent increase in attacks during the first three weeks of Ramadan, as compared to the three weeks preceding Ramadan. In Baghdad, Operation Together Forward has made a difference in the focus areas, but has not met our overall expectations of sustaining a reduction in the levels of violence.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STARR: So General Caldwell goes on to say, Heidi, that the conditions have changed and that's one of the reasons that the violence has gone up so much in the last couple of weeks. The question, of course, is, why have conditions changed? Why in the last two months have they not been able to get a handle on this literally out of control violence in many sections of Baghdad and other parts of Iraq.

In Baghdad alone, you know, now Iraqi civilians still taking the brunt of the violence, dying by the dozens at this point. Seventy- three U.S. troops killed in Iraq so far this month and we're just at about the halfway point of the month. Seventy-three troops killed in action. On track to be perhaps the deadliest month for U.S. forces.

So very tough business ahead and a real acknowledgment that their eggs in this basket of making Baghdad secure, those eggs are now broken. It's just not working, they say.

General Caldwell also going on to confirm another very interesting detail. The U.S. has released a Shia cleric that it took into custody because they believed he was involved with death squad activity and he was an associate of Muqtada al Sadr's Mehdi army, now released because Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki asked the U.S. to let the man go.

Heidi.

COLLINS: All right. Barbara, interesting. We'll keep following these stories as they come to us from the Pentagon.

Thank you, Barbara.

HARRIS: A new development this morning in the Mark Foley story. You'll recall that it was a bit more than a week ago that disgraced Congressman Mark Foley revealed that he had been sexually abused by a priest in his childhood. That abuse -- that alleged abuse taking place at the Sacred Heart Church in Lake Worth, Florida. Foley says this happened over a two-year period when he was 13 years old, ending when he was 15. We're getting new information now on the identity of the alleged abuser -- is being revealed to us now. Susan Candiotti is on the phone with us.

Susan, what do you know?

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Tony.

We've confirmed from multiple sources that the name of the priest is Father Anthony Mercieca. He no longer lives in the United States. He lives in Italy, on the Island of Goza. Now we have also confirmed that this priest, Mercieca, was assigned to the Sacred Heart Church in Lake Worth, Florida, the same church where Mark Foley was an altar boy.

As you indicated, Mr. Foley alleges that he was molested by a priest between -- when he, Foley, was between the ages of 13 and 15 years old. A newspaper, "The Herald Tribune" in Sarasota, Florida, interviewed Father Mercieca and he tells the newspaper, among other things, that he massaged Foley when Mr. Foley was naked as a boy, went skinny dipping together, that they were naked in the same room on overnight trips, and that there was one occasion where the priest told the newspaper he didn't quite recall exactly what happened, but it might have involved some sexual activity. The priest says at the time he had taken some drugs and, therefore, his memory is a little bit clouded.

Now he also told the newspaper that he had "great memories of our trips together" and he added, even after he was told about Mr. Foley's allegations that, "let bygones be bygones." Well, apparently, that is not happening to a degree because this priest's name has been turned over by Mr. Foley's lawyers to the Palm Beach state attorney's office, who, in turn, has given the name to the archdiocese of Miami. The archdiocese will be conducting an investigation and now, of course, that the name is out there, the church wants to know whether anyone else is making any claims, any allegations about this priest.

Let's remind our audience that Mr. Foley has said he does not want to pursue criminal charges against this priest, and, therefore, at this time the state attorney's office has not opened a criminal investigation because they don't have a victim. Other people decide to come forward, that situation might change.

Back to you, Tony.

HARRIS: And, Susan, none of this changes life for Mark Foley as he knows it now. Our understanding is that he is still in rehab and resigned, so he is no longer a congressman. So none of this, in terms of the revelations and seemingly the admissions by Father Tony changes the landscape at all for Mark Foley.

CANDIOTTI: It doesn't. He continues to go through rehab treatment, as he said, for alcoholism, and also receiving psychological counseling. You remember it was just about two weeks ago when he made this disclosure that he was -- made two disclosures, acknowledging that he is gay and also saying that he was molested, he claims, by a priest between the ages of 13 and 15. But he also added through his lawyer that he is not using this as an excuse for the scandal that was created on Capitol Hill with the pages. Needless to say, everyone is wondering why he didn't come forward with this name before name.

HARRIS: Yes. CNN's Susan Candiotti for us. Susan, appreciate it. Thank you.

COLLINS: We want to go ahead and get to our faith and values correspondent, Delia Gallagher. She is in New York now with some reaction to this story from the Vatican.

And, boy, Delia, as I look at some of the information that I have here, it kind of seems like we have two different stories. We have what's happening with Congressman Foley, or former Congressman Foley, I should say, and then we have this latest issue of another catholic priest and this possible molestation. What is the Vatican saying? They cannot be happy.

: Well, Heidi, I've just gotten off the phone with the papal spokesman, Father Lombardi. And, in fact, it was the first that he had heard of this Father Mercieca coming out with this information. So he did give us a statement, but he was careful to say that he hadn't gotten any other details other than what I had told him. The statement was, "if the news stories we are hearing are correct," he says, "we participate in the pain that this deplorable situation has caused." And he says, "we trust in the competent ecclesial authorities to investigate and clarify the events that have been reported."

So what he's saying here, Heidi, is that the Vatican doesn't have immediate jurisdiction over these things, but they give it to the diocese, first of all, in which the events happened. So in this case, the archdiocese of Miami. And in the archdiocese where the priest became a priest so that the bishop who made this man a priest is also responsible for this. And in this situation, it would be in Malta. Gosa, by the way, is an island of Malta, which is a very different island from Italy. They're English speaking. They have a lot of priest from Malta that tend the go on missions. And in this case we saw that Father Mercieca says he went on a mission to Brazil and then came over to the United States and seems to, then, have retired and gone back to Malta.

So they are aware of the situation, and clearly we'll be watching it. Not happy about it, as you said, calling it deplorable. But at the same time, they have to rely on the archdiocese and the archbishop who is in Miami and the archbishop who is in Malta

COLLINS: All right, Delia. Boy, it scares me because what I'm seeing here, if in fact it's true, and we know that Father Mercieca did not really deny much of this, at least according to some of the reports that we have here, I see at least one, two, three, four, five, six other churches, if you will, where he served after these events allegedly took place.

GALLAGHER: Absolutely. It's going to be a big investigation, no doubt about it. And the Vatican, from their point of view, is going to have to watch what the archdiocese of Miami does and place their full confidence in the archbishop there and in the archdiocese to complete that investigation for them

COLLINS: All right. Well, Delia Gallagher from New York for us. Thank you so much for that.

Also want to remind everybody that we'll be speaking a little bit later in this hour with the reporter from the Sarasota "Herald Tribune" who broke the name of the priest possibly involved in this story. Get a little bit more information from that.

HARRIS: And a key witness testifying today in the Capitol Hill investigation surrounding the Mark Foley scandal. Jeff Trandahl appears before the House Ethics Committee. The former House clerk oversaw the page program.

Sources tell CNN Trandahl repeatedly raised red flags about Foley's inappropriate conduct with pages years before GOP leaders say they knew anything about it. Sources say Trandahl took his concerns to Kirk Fordham, a former Foley aide. Fordham has said he reported warnings of Mark Foley's conduct to House Speaker Dennis Hastert's office years ago. Hastert's chief of staff has denied that claim. Also testifying before the House panel today, House Majority Leader John Boehner. Boehner has said, when he approached Hastert about Foley, the speaker told him, "it had been taken care of."

COLLINS: Bad vibes for Capitol Hill incumbents this morning. Half of Americans believe most members of Congress are corrupt. That's up 12 percent since January. The CNN poll, from Opinion Research Corporation, shows 43 percent do not believe most representatives are corrupt. Checking job approval, pretty negative for both parties, it looks like. Fifty-four percent disapprove of how Democrats are doing their jobs. For Republicans, the figure jumps to 61 percent. The poll was taken last weekend. More than 1,000 Americans expressing their opinions in this particular sampling.

HARRIS: And still to come, NFL stadiums on alert. A dirty bomb threat. What Homeland Security is saying about it in the NEWSROOM.

COLLINS: And Iraq and Vietnam. What does the president have to say now about comparisons? Interesting insight right here in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Chad Myers in the Weather Center.

Well, geez, it's moving even faster now than the last time we checked in with you.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COLLINS: Seven NFL stadiums, sites of Sunday battles, now the shadow of the bigger war looms. Homeland Security correspondent Jeanne Meserve now with the new terror threat.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MESERVE, ABC CORRESPONDENT (voice over): A message posted on a website claims a spectacular attack will take place this Sunday at National Football League games. Dirty bombs, packed with radioactive material, delivered by truck and detonated almost simultaneously at stadiums in Miami, New York, Atlanta, Seattle, Houston, Oakland, and Cleveland. Potentially affecting hundreds of thousands of sports fans.

The Department of Homeland Security says the threat is not credible, citing a lack of corroborating intelligence. But out of an abundance of caution, the department warned the NFL and state and local authorities.

STEVE POMERANTZ, FORMER FBI COUNTERTERROR OFFICIAL: In a post- 9/11 world, the very worst outcome would be if the government had some sort of threat information, failed to pass that information on, and something were to occur. I mean that's just the worst nightmare possible.

MESERVE: The NFL issued a statement saying its "stadiums are very well protected," with security procedures, including pat-downs and bag searches. But team representatives were meeting with the FBI and DHS and some stadiums said they would be taking extra, unspecified security precautions.

The owner of the website where the message was posted, told CNN he had not been contacted by law enforcement and was unaware of the threat.

BRIAN MARCUS, ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE: The site that this particular message was posted on is not one that's been used for Jihadist threats before. It's not one that we consider a credible source.

MESERVE: Large sporting events have long been considered potential terror targets. Security around the Super Bowl, for instance, is always extensive. And there was a threat against the NCAA basketball tournament last spring, but no attacks materialized. One former CIA official says this threat does not sound like al Qaeda

MICHAEL SCHEUER, FORMER CIA COUNTERTERRORISM OFFICIAL: If they were going to go to the trouble of staging a seven-part operation on the same day, I think they would devote it to areas that are more crucial to the American economy.

MESERVE: The Department of Homeland Security is urging Americans to be vigilant, but is also telling them to go about their business. And that includes going to NFL football games on Sunday.

Jeanne Meserve, CNN, Spring Lake, Michigan

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Well, here's the thing. You can put it off as long as you want to, but at the moment, Gerri Willis says it's time to winterize your home.

GERRI WILLIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right.

HARRIS: It's time.

Gerri, good morning.

WILLIS: Hey, good morning, Tony. Good to see you.

You know, winter is on the way in and your heating bill is on the way up. We'll tell you how to insulate your wallet. That's next on "Top Tips."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Taking a check of the big board now. It looks like the Dow is up 32 points or so. Nasdaq also up 7. You can see it resting comfortably. Pretty comfortably, anyway, above that 12,000 mark, which we also went above yesterday early in the day but did not close above it. So we'll watch this and see if we can actually stay above it for the close today. HARRIS: Well, how about it? That first blast of winter caught Buffalo, New York, by surprise. How about this? Boy. But you don't have to be unprepared. Now's the time to get your home ready without shelling out a lot of cold, hard cash to do it. CNN personal finance editor Gerri Willis is here to help tell us how to get it done.

Gerri, good to see you this morning.

WILLIS: Hey, good to see you too, Tony.

HARRIS: Hey, you know, you're right, Buffalo really hit hard by this. So now is the time. Where do we get started? I think one of the things you're going to tell us to do is, you really have to inspect and ready the guts of your system.

WILLIS: That's right. Your priority number one is get your heating system serviced. And you don't wait until the snow starts because you'll be waiting a long time for a professional to do the inspection. Look, a lot of dirt can collect inside your furnace ducts and will raise your energy bills. And, in fact, even the functioning and performance of your furnace. So just cleaning those filters can save you up to $60 a year on heating costs. Get that furnace serviced.

HARRIS: Yes. And you need to seal up those drafts, too, and they can be everywhere in the house, particularly around the windows it seems.

WILLIS: People don't realize, you've got to keep all that warm air inside. And you can do this by sealing up all the gaps around your windows and doors with a caulk sealant. Now this is going to save you about 20 percent of your heating costs. So it's really worthwhile doing. To find those drafts, use the back of your hand to feel for air leaks. Or you can take some incense and light a stick of it next to your windows and see where the smoke wavers. Also, look for any other holes that allow warm air to leak out. I'm telling you, dryer vents that vent outside, those are often a problem. A cracked window, even, can be a big problem when it comes to making sure that your home is winterized.

HARRIS: Got you, Gerri. I would think we would be pretty good at inspecting the fireplace, but it's always a good tip, isn't it?

WILLIS: Yes, you know, you want to make sure that fireplace is clear of bird nests, squirrels or other little critters. And your flu shouldn't have creosote buildup. This is a black tar-like substance and it's dangerous. It can cause unwanted fires. Generally you should have your chimney cleaned once a year or even once every two years. Find a certified chimney sweep by going to the Chimney Safety Institute of America, CSIA.org. You know, there are some guys out there who aren't so good, so get somebody who's good.

HARRIS: A little shady, right.

WILLIS: Yes.

HARRIS: What should we do outside of the home?

WILLIS: Shut off the water valve that goes to your outside faucets. Remove any tree leaves, branches or other debris from your gutters. And make sure your gutter downspouts carry water at least three feet away from the house because you're going to get basement flooding if that water stands there right next to your house.

Tony.

HARRIS: Gerri, what are you working on for the big "Open House" show this weekend?

WILLIS: Well, the big "Open House" show, 9:30 a.m. Eastern, right here on CNN. We're going to tell you why your heating bills could be a lot higher this winter and what you should know about 6 percent real estate commissions. You don't have to pay that anymore.

Plus, we'll take you behind the scenes to a New Orleans cottage that is very special, down size, temporary housing that is prettier than permanent housing. I've got to tell you, Tony, lots of fun coming up on "Open House."

HARRIS: Very cool. Very cool. That's your personal finance editor Gerri Willis.

Gerri, good to see you. Have a great day.

WILLIS: Good to see you, Tony.

HARRIS: OK. Take care.

ANNOUNCER: Live in the CNN NEWSROOM, Heidi Collins and Tony Harris.

COLLINS: Have you seen this child? Police in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, have posted an Amber Alert for this missing four-month-old girl. They think the infant may have been taken by an acquaintance of her mother. Investigators say 15-year-old Kaneisha Black (ph) went with the mother to a baby-sitters's home yesterday morning. They say the teen came back later and claimed she had permission to pick up the child. Black is 5'4" and was last seen wearing a tan shirt and blue cropped pants.

Lots of reported sightings, but still no sign of a Kentucky mother, her nine-month-old son and her boyfriend. Police say they've been on the run since a social worker was killed on Monday. Investigators say the social worker was attacked after taking the baby for a visit with the mother, Renee Terrell (ph). Police have issued a warrant for Terrell on kidnapping charges. We will get an update on the search a little bit later in the NEWSROOM. A detective is going to be joining us to talk about that.

HARRIS: And what's the latest on the missing eight-year-old boy in Oregon? Thomas Roberts joins us now from the newsroom with the latest.

Thomas.

THOMAS ROBERTS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Tony, we continue to watch this story really closely, trying to figure out exactly what rescue crews are seeing as they search for this little boy. He's eight-year- old Sammy Belke (ph). So far we're learning on day six now of the search that all they're finding in the woods near Crater Lake, Oregon, are just wildlife tracks. They haven't been able to figure out any type of path that this young boy took on Saturday when he ran away from his dad.

Kenneth Belke says that he and his son Sammy were there near Crater Lake. They were taking a father-son hike together when dad said, hey, we've to go. Little Sammy took off running into the woods. And after a couple hours of the dad not being able to find his son, that's when he notified authorities and a larger crew came in, a rescue crew, roughly about 145 people now, working to find little Sammy. He was last seen wearing just a winter coat, long sleeved t- shirt, cargo pants and light shoes.

Tony, another thing that they're pointing out to us, though, is that the boy, described by his family as exhibiting some symptoms of autism and may not come to rescue crews if he hears his name so quickly. But right now it is day six and they are holding out hope that maybe, because of the temperatures and also the snow, sub freezing temperatures that are there, that he's somehow hidden himself and taken shelter and maybe that's why he's not able to hear the rescue crews or see the helicopters above. There really is an extensive search that's going on there now. Hopeful to bring you better news coming up here throughout the day.

HARRIS: All right. They've got to find this kid.

All right, Thomas, appreciate it. Thank you.

COLLINS: He was in charge of House pages, and today he tells what he knew and who else knew about Mark Foley's lurid e-mails. That's ahead in the NEWSROOM.

HARRIS: Betting on oil and losing big-time. Hedge funds take a hit. What about your funds? That story ahead in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: A new development this morning in the Mark Foley story. Sources say the priest who allegedly sexually assaulted or abused, that is, Foley has been identified as Anthony Mercieca. Mercieca now lives in Malta. One source says the priest worked at Sacred Heart Church in Florida during the '60s. Foley once served as an altar boy there.

The former Congressman's attorney has said Foley was molested between the ages of 13 and 15. And according to the reporter for the "Sarasota Herald-Tribune" who interviewed the priest, the priest admitted he had what might now be termed an inappropriate relationship with Foley.

Here's more of what reporter Matthew Doig had to say about that interview on CNN's "AMERICAN MORNING."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATTHEW DOIG, "SARASOTA HERALD-TRIBUNE": He said, looking back, all those other incidents are probably going to be viewed as inappropriate: the skinny-dipping, the back massage, the trips to the sauna. I mean, 1966 there may have been a different attitude about a -- you know, adult man, you know, a priest having this kind of friendship with a teenage boy. And he said but now, looking back, even those incidences that weren't involving sexual contact or anything like that, he can see how that would be viewed as inappropriate as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: And Matthew Doig is going to be joining us just a little bit later on here in the NEWSROOM to tell us more about what he learned in that interview.

HARRIS: A surge in violence across Baghdad prompts the U.S. military to announce a refocus of security measures. A U.S. military spokesman says a security crackdown has made a difference in some areas, but has not reduced the level of overall violence. He says attacks in Baghdad are up 22 percent. Just today, five people were killed and a dozen wounded in roadside bombing.

Insurgents were targeting a employs convoy. In other violence across the capital, police say they found 31 bodies, all killed execution style. Meanwhile, in Mosul, this bombing at a police station killed 11 people and wounded more than 20 others. The attack prompted officials to impose a curfew there. Another 11 people were killed and 40 wounded in Kirkuk. Iraqi soldiers were collecting their paychecks when the car bomb went off.

Iraq, another Vietnam? President Bush has long rejected any comparison between the two wars, but in an interview with ABC News, the president had this to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABC NEWS: Tom Friedman wrote in the "New York Times" this morning that what we may be seeing now is the Iraqi equivalent of the Tet Offensive in Vietnam in 1968. Tony Snow this morning said he may be right. Do you agree?

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He could be right. There's certainly a stepped-up level of violence, and we're heading into an election.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: During the Tet Offensive, we should tell you, Vietcong and North Vietnamese forces lost a series of attacks on American troops, even though it was a military defeat for the guerrillas. The attacks shook America's confidence about winning the war, and eroded public support. (WEATHER REPORT)

HARRIS: Stadiums on alert, but football fans are being told, relax, enjoy the games this Sunday. Homeland security officials say a Web site posting warns of a dirty bomb attacks games at seven stadiums, but they stress that the threat is not credible, and the warning is just a precaution. One security expert says officials went overboard.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES WASLH, SECURITY ANALYST: Every time they use this phrase "an abundance of caution," everyone should step back, because often that means is that it's an abundance of people who are trying to cover their butts, rather than really being a credible threat. I think this is completely bogus. It makes no sense whatsoever. Al Qaeda does not announce its threats in advance. That reduces its likelihood of success. And the last place you'd use a radiological weapon is at a place like a football stadium where you could easily set up radiation detectors to try to stop the attempted operation. So, none of this makes any sense, and when they do this, I think it -- it's a disservice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: But we should quickly add that the FBI is involved, and is right now questioning the man who posted the threat against the stadiums on the Internet, on that Internet Web site. Jonathan Freed is following that story for us out of Milwaukee, and we will talk to Jonathan shortly. The NFL is trying to do its best to reassure fans that the stadiums will be safe for games this weekend.

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN FINANCIAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Susan Lisovicz at the New York Stock Exchange, where I'm starting to sound like a broken record because the Dow is threatening to break yet another record.

I'll have details when NEWSROOM returns. You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BUSINESS HEADLINES)

HARRIS: And, Heidi, getting this word that the reporter who talked, the reporter from "The Sarasota Herald Tribune," who talked to the priest accused of sexual abuse by former Congressman Mark Foley is on the line. We will talk to him right after the break.

You're in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: A new development this morning in the Mark Foley story. Sources say the priest who allegedly sexually abused Foley has been identified as Anthony Mercieca. Mercieca now lives on the Island of Gozo, near Italy. One source says the priest worked at Sacred Heart Church in Florida during the '60s, and Foley once served as an altar boy there. The former congressman's attorney has said Foley was molested between the ages of 13 and 15.

And in fact, the reporter who broke the story for the "Herald- Tribune" is with us now. His name is Matthew Doig. He's coming to us from Sarasota, Florida.

Matthew, I want to ask you your impressions, first off, in speaking with this man, Father Tony, as he liked to be called.

DOIG: Well, he seemed kind of confused about why Mark Foley would be coming forward with this now, and I think the quote we ran in the story was that why is he trying to destroy me now in my old age? He said he has fond memories of his friendship with Mark back in Lake Worth. So more than anything, he seems confused about why he's coming forward with it now.

COLLINS: Well, apparently it did take place -- if it did take place -- 40 years ago. But that being said, I have been struck by reading your article, Matthew, about how incredibly open he seemed to be, provided a lot of detail here.

DOIG: Yes, I was kind of surprised about that, too. And -- but he was adamant -- his main concern was to stress the point that this was a one-time situation with Mark, the extremely inappropriate encounter. And he said in hindsight there were -- a lot of their relationship was inappropriate, the skinny dipping, naked back massages, that type of thing. But he stressed over and over that throughout his career, there's only been this one allegation against him. And other reporting that's been done kind of backs that up, that this was a one-time encounter with Mark Foley and that this may be the only allegation that's been leveled against him, at least to this point.

COLLINS: Because it's obvious where the concern would be. You know, not one time or 50 times, the point being we do know that Father Tony, again, as he had asked to have been called by these young men, went on to several other parishes. I mean, I'm counting one, two, three, four, five here -- five or six on my list. That would be the concern. Does it one time go somewhere else and could have done it again?

DOIG: Right. And traditionally, someone who is a sexual predator, this type of behavior, you don't turn it on and off. It is something that dogs you throughout your life. But like I said, at this point, the reporting seems to suggest that it's a one-time incident. Now, if somebody came forward with information later to strike that down, I would not be surprised.

COLLINS: Well, what do you make of him asking these boys to call him Father Tony? There were a couple of accounts here in your story about another person who had spent a lot of time with this priest, and felt left out a lot because he had gone with former Congressman Mark Foley out on different adventures or different trips. And he said, you know, I felt left out when that was happening. DOIG: Right. You know, you got to imagine, especially back in the 1960s, when nobody was thinking about priests molesting kids, if you go up in a very Catholic family, it's an honor to have a priest over to your house for dinner and to befriend your son or want to take him on trips. I mean, the reporting that my colleague Mo Tamin (ph) did through the Foley family showed that this was -- the family did take it as an honor. And that's why they're, I think, struggling so much to come to terms with this.

COLLINS: All right. Well, we certainly appreciate your reporting on this. Do want to make clear, though, right off the top of your story mentioned a two-year intimate relationship between the priest and former Congressman Mark Foley. But that is also to say that apparently an incident like this, where he's possibly crossed the line here, only happened that one time in two years.

DOIG: Well, I mean, intimate, right. There was a number of what he calls kind of inappropriate encounters: the skinny dipping, the naked back massage, kind of these general discussions about sex. He referenced teaching Mark something inappropriate about sex, though he wouldn't get into details.

But beyond those other incidences, which he says were innocent, he said that there was this one occasion fueled by an abuse of tranquilizers and alcohol where that clearly went over the line. And that is the one incident that we believe the source close to Mark Foley's family told us about and that Mark Foley himself is talking about with his attorney.

COLLINS: All right. Well, Matthew Doig, we appreciate your time here today and your reporting, as well, on this story. Thanks.

DOIG: No problem. Thanks for having me.

HARRIS: Nuclear tensions in North Korea, Washington's efforts to diffuse them. What's next in this developing story?

And no laughing matter for the mother of comedian Chris Rock. Have you heard this story? She is claiming racial discrimination. We will hear from Rose Rock straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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