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American Morning

Indonesia Jet Tragedy; Food Supply Safe?; Russian Reporter's Suicide Questioned; Meeting Mr. Wrong

Aired March 07, 2007 - 08:00   ET

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

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Coming up on the top of the hour now. Chad Myers at the CNN weather center.
(WEATHER REPORT)

M. O'BRIEN: What a way to wake up. At least two tickets match the $370 million lottery jackpot. We'll tell you where America's newest mega millionaires bought their winning tickets.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: And the survivors' story. A jetliner burst into flames. A news crew keeps the camera rolling as it escapes from the deadly crash.

M. O'BRIEN: Convicted felon Scooter Libby fights for a new trial today. Could he also get a pardon from President Bush?

S. O'BRIEN: And is your breakfast safe to eat this morning? There are some concerns about contaminated food and just who's watching out for all of us.

We're live this morning from Moscow and Indonesia, from Washington and from here in New York on this AMERICAN MORNING.

M. O'BRIEN: Good morning, Wednesday, March 7th. I'm Miles O'Brien.

S. O'BRIEN: And I'm Soledad O'Brien. Thanks for being with us.

Let's begin with that nightmare landing in Indonesia. Twenty- three people killed, more than 100 passengers, though, were able to survive. Remarkable when you take a look at those pictures. And this morning, investigators are searching for just what went wrong.

Now, there was word that maybe it was pilot error to blame. A photographer from Australia's Channel 7 News was able to escape from the plane, took these pictures. The plane apparently overshot the runway, skidded right into a rice field and then caught on fire. A hundred and forty people on board when it came in for a landing at Yogyakarta in central Java.

And CNN's Dan Rivers is on the scene for us this morning right in front of that wreckage.

Dan, good morning.

DAN RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, to you, Soledad. Yes, a really incredible scene behind me. You can make out in the dark the white of the tail fin on this Boeing 737 that smashed into a rice patty field here.

We've been up and had a look, and it really is quite chilling. The entire fuselage is pretty much melted.

It's amazing, quite frankly, that anyone got out alive. And now the police are beginning their investigation into what went wrong with flight GA 200.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RIVERS (voice over): Within seconds of overshooting the runway, Garuda Airlines Flight 200 was an inferno. This remarkable video was taken by a news cameraman who was aboard. Moments after, he scrambled out. In spite of his injuries, he manages to film the awful scene behind him.

Inside the burning fuselage, passengers who weren't so quick. Many horribly burnt, stretched (ph) away by rescuers who fought the flames for two hours. But, incredibly, many did make it out alive.

RUTH BAMGGADAN, CRASH SURVIVOR: Suddenly we got (ph) like a bomb. And then we hit the ground. And when it stopped, I already see fire outside of the plane. I sat on the right side of the plane, so the fire was outside the window.

RIVERS: Among the 140 passengers and crew were nine Australians preparing for a visit by the foreign minister, Alexander Downer. They included embassy officials, police officers and journalists.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have no reason to believe that this accident was as a result of sabotage or terrorist attack or anything like that. It does look like just a straight action, where the aircraft apparently ran off the end of the runway.

RIVERS: Hospitals in Yogyakarta were inundated with more than 90 injured passengers and crew. The distressed relatives desperately praying for good news.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RIVERS: The big question now is, what exactly caused this accident? There is one theory that perhaps there was some sort of mechanical failure on this jet that caused it to careen off the end of the runway, perhaps some sort of brake failure or problem with the landing gear. The other theory that's been suggested by sources in the Australian air force is that the pilot was simply coming in way too fast, overshooting the end of the runway and plowing into the field right behind me -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: That's Dan Rivers for us in Yogyakarata in central Java. The wreckage right behind him.

Wow, what a devastating story. Thank you, Dan -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: From chief of staff to the vice president to convicted felon, Scooter Libby facing prison time this morning after that dramatic guilty verdict in Washington. The jury finding he lied to investigators who were trying to learn who in the White House leaked the name of a CIA agent to the media. The prosecutor says the case is closed, but the husband of the outed former agent, Valerie Plame, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, told Larry King there are others who should be accountable.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSEPH WILSON, VALERIE PLAME WILSON'S HUSBAND: I think, frankly, now that the trial is over, the president and the vice president owe the American people an explanation of what they knew and what they did or what they didn't do. They could begin by sharing the transcripts of their interviews with Mr. Fitzgerald rather than continue to hide behind an ongoing investigation, ongoing trial, et cetera, et cetera.

I think they ought to -- they ought to make clear what their involvement or lack of involvement was in this. I think we would all be reassured by what they had to say.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

M. O'BRIEN: We're going to hear from our senior legal analyst, Jeffrey Toobin, in just a few minutes. And later, our senior analyst, Jeff Greenfield, will be here with more on the political implications of the case -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Well, you know, there's E. coli now in spinach and salmonella in peanut butter. Listeria reported to be in chicken. So you kind of have to wonder just what is going on with the food supply and just what is safe to eat. We've been reporting this morning about federal funding for inspections, much more for meat, much less for produce.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta has been looking at the medical and personal side of the problem.

Sanjay, good morning.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

Yes, in a little bit we're going to have a story coming up about some of the consequences of these food outbreaks. A lot of information out there, but a lot of questions, as well.

You heard about, for example, 204 people affected by E. coli in spinach. What exactly does that mean? Who are these people that are affected? And I can tell you, it affects their lives in unimaginable ways, and it really affects them forever. We're going to introduce you to a family where three members of that family were dramatically affected by this. Also, what is the FDA and the USDA -- and who is really responsible? What are they doing about this? And is the food any safer that you eat today versus a year ago? The answer, not really.

I'll tell you why and what can you do to try and make your food that you put on your table any more safe.

All that coming up in a little bit -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: All right, Sanjay. Thanks for that. We'll take a look at that straight ahead -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: New word from Russia this morning on a story of poisoning in Moscow. Two American women, a mother and daughter, sick from thallium while they were in Moscow. They left the hospital this morning. The cloak and dagger tale sounds like it comes from a spy novel, but it's all too real.

CNN's Matthew Chance live in Moscow.

First of all, Matthew, what are you hearing about this?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we've just come back from the hospital, Miles, and I can tell you that it's been confirmed that these two American citizens, the mother and daughter, have been discharged from that medical facility in the center of the Russian capital. According to their doctors, they were well enough to walk away, and we understand they boarded an aircraft bound back for the United States to their home town of Los Angeles. But they leave behind them something of a mystery.

We understand that they came to Russia as tourists, perhaps to attend a wedding. They've been named as Marina (ph) and Yanna Kovalevsky (ph). And police say they've launched an investigation into how it was during their stay in the Russian capital they managed to get poisoned or exposed to this highly toxic substance, thallium. Although the police at this stage, Miles, have not come up with any answers.

M. O'BRIEN: All right.

Meanwhile, perhaps related, perhaps not, we've got this other story of a Russian journalist, a Kremlin critic, and a mysterious death. Tell us about that.

CHANCE: Well, Ivan Safronov the latest in a long line of Russian journalists who are prominent in this country to die a mysterious death. It's his funeral today after his body was found by neighbors at the -- outside of his apartment building in Moscow after he apparently had jumped from a fifth floor window. Police investigating that case say they found no evident so far of any foul play, but the fact that someone like him has died, yet again in Russia, is certainly raising a great deal of concerns.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) CHANCE (voice over): He's the latest high-profile Russian journalist to be found dead in mysterious circumstances. Ivan Safronov reported on military affairs and was often critical of Russia's armed forces. Police say they're treating his death as suicide, but among those close to him, there are serious doubts.

(on camera): Well, this is the grim Moscow apartment building where Ivan Safronov lived and died. Investigators say he came here to the fifth floor, climbed out of these windows, and then, from this ledge, one of Russia's most prominent military journalists plunged to his death.

(voice over): A former colonel in Russia's space forces, Safronov had deep contacts in the Russian military. He was the first to report the launch failure of a new Russian intercontinental ballistic missile, the Bulava. It's meant to become the cornerstone of Russia's nuclear forces, and its problems are an official embarrassment.

At the Russian language newspaper where he worked, colleagues say Safronov frequently angered the authorities who accused him of divulging state secrets. His editors says the journalist was investigating sensitive Russian arms deliveries to Iran and Syria when he died.

"He could have been killed for his work," he told me. "In Russia, everything is possible. But as yet, we have no evidence," he says. "I just know he wasn't the suicidal type."

CHANCE (on camera): Do you believe his death was suicide?

ANDREI VASILIEV, EDITOR, "KOMMERSANT": I don't believe.

CHANCE (voice over): Russia has been shaken by a series of high- profile killings in recent months, like of Anna Politkovskaya, a journalist fiercely critical of Russia's war in Chechnya. Then there was Alexander Litvinenko, a former Russian agent poisoned last year in London.

For critics of the Kremlin in Russia and beyond, the latest mysterious deaths carries a chilling message.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHANCE: While no established links between...

S. O'BRIEN: We just lost Matthew Chance. We had a little problem with his satellite. But obviously, the intrigue goes on and they continue the investigations in some of those cases.

Well, here's kind of a weird one for you. Weird one for the books, they might say.

Here is a guy who seemed like Prince Charming, but a number of women found out that Mr. Right was actually Mr. Very, Very, Very Wrong. CNN's Reggie Aqui has the story of a man of many women's dreams who apparently was wanted by the law, too.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAUREN MENDELSOHN, ALLEGED VICTIM: He's used to jumping weird stuff.

REGGIE AQUI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Lauren Mendelsohn already had the white horse. But Prince Charming to go with it, that was a little harder to find.

MENDELSOHN: I'm still a stupid romantic.

AQUI: A year and a half ago, Mendelsohn, of Baltimore, met Hillard Quint a dating Web site for Jewish singles.

MENDELSOHN: So he wasn't that great looking, but he was very, very charming.

AQUI: And apparently rich. Mendelsohn says Quint told her of millions in the bank, a home in California, even a Hummer. But it Mendelsohn who was about to be taken for a ride.

MENDELSOHN: Oh, my god. I had no idea.

AQUI: Suddenly, he needed cash.

MENDELSOHN: There was more than $150,000.

AQUI: It turns out the Hummer was a lease, the money was a lie.

MENDELSOHN: He said to me, "I have $200 in my account. I don't have $3 million. I have $200." That's it.

AQUI (on camera): Lauren Mendelsohn isn't alone. Another woman claiming to be a victim living here in Newnan, Georgia, says she knows Hillard Quint better than just about anybody.

LISA CHAPO, QUINT'S EX-WIFE: I was his wife.

AQUI (voice over): Unlike Lauren Mendelsohn, Lisa Chapo knew her husband went to prison for two years after defrauding his legal clients. She thought he had changed.

CHAPO: That's how you get sucked in is, you know, he creates that, that bond. You know, that love and that trust.

AQUI: But then she found her husband's profiles on JDate and match.com, the stacks of fake checks, and unpaid bills. During their five years of marriage she figures he took more than $350,000.

CHAPO: He killed my family's future.

AQUI: Authorities now say during and after his marriage, Hillard Quint scammed victims in at least nine states. That is, until he got to Illinois.

The Deerfield Police Department heard one Chicago woman's story. She said it was the fake "Success" magazine cover that tipped her off.

When police finally arrested Hillard Quint at this Chicago apartment, they found the phone numbers of Hillard Quint's alleged victims. Lauren Mendelsohn included. She says her ex-boyfriend's arrest helps, but there are some things...

MENDELSOHN: I don't trust anybody anymore.

AQUI: ... she may never get over.

(on camera): As for Hillard Quint, he's sitting in a Chicago jail cell right now. He's charged with check forgery and deceptive practice.

Now, we've tried to contact Quint's public defender. So far we haven't heard back. Their next scheduled court appearance is March 20th.

Reggie Aqui, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

M. O'BRIEN: Quite a tale.

Coming up, breaking news. Mega Million winners to tell you about this morning. We're getting more word about exactly where the winning tickets were sold.

Plus, Scooter Libby is a convicted felon this morning. Is a presidential pardon in the cards?

Also, new worries about the food we eat and how often it's being checked for contamination.

You're watching AMERICAN MORNING. The most news in the morning is on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: The most news in the morning is right here on CNN.

America is waking up with at least two new mega millionaires. There are two new winning tickets out there for that $370 million Mega Millions jackpot. They think actually the number could be higher when they actually add up all the last-minute tickets.

One ticket apparently purchased in Georgia, the other in New Jersey. And California is -- still hasn't reported yet. They've got to check to see if they've any winners -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: It's about quarter past the hour. Chad Myers is among the losers this morning. He joins us from the weather center with a look at where the cold weather is. (WEATHER REPORT)

S. O'BRIEN: Here is a question for you. What's next for Scooter Libby?

The former Cheney aide is facing prison time after his conviction for lying and obstructing justice in the CIA leak investigation. Libby's lawyers say they're going to ask for a new trial, and if that fails, they're going to appeal the verdict.

Our senior legal analyst, Jeff Toobin, is with us this morning.

Before we get to the new trial and the appeal, let's first talk about the amount of time that Scooter Libby could be facing here.

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SR. LEGAL ANALYST: Well, the federal sentencing guidelines are no longer mandatory, but they probably will suggest that his term will be somewhere between a year and a half and three years. Most judges follow those guidelines, so it will probably be a sentence somewhere in there.

S. O'BRIEN: So even though he got much more on paper, you think somewhere around there?

TOOBIN: Almost certainly, yes.

S. O'BRIEN: OK. A new trial we heard about that his lawyer said, and if that fails, then they'll just appeal. How likely on both of those fronts?

TOOBIN: A new trial almost no chance at all. His appeal perhaps a somewhat better chance. But there were not a lot of controversial legal rulings in this case, not a lot of grounds for appeal. I think it's very likely that the D.C. Circuit, which is the court that will get the case, will affirm the conviction.

S. O'BRIEN: I thought it was interesting that the jurors sounded like they felt sorry for Libby, and that they were sort of confounded by the fact that they couldn't charge anybody -- you know, couldn't bring charges against anybody else in the case.

TOOBIN: Very interesting context of the case, because, you know, a lot of us thought that the jury would be kind of anti-Bush administration and dislike all those people. Well, they certainly didn't dislike Scooter Libby very much.

S. O'BRIEN: They were sorry for him.

TOOBIN: They -- apparently, Mr. Collins, the juror who spoke out at length, said several jurors said, you know, they felt badly about it. I think -- you know, there was no evidence in the case that anyone authorized him to commit a crime. No one even suggested that Dick Cheney said, go in there and lie to the grand jury.

But the context, the overall setting, was that Libby was doing the bidding of other people. And that -- and that seemed to bother the jury.

S. O'BRIEN: Because, of course, he was not convicted of revealing the name, he was convicted of lying in the investigation. Richard Armitage, we know, was the leaker.

TOOBIN: Was the initial leaker. And that makes the authorization argument that much harder to make, because no one suggested that he went into the grand jury having been told to commit a crime. But the -- the -- there were so many people talking about Valerie Plame, so many people in the administration who knew, Libby just seemed like one more. And it seemed awkward, at least to some jurors, that he was the only one on trial.

S. O'BRIEN: He's the fall guy, it sounded like they were thinking.

No new charges, says the special prosecutor in the case. Let's talk about the civil suit.

This is obviously good news for the civil suit. How likely is it that they're going to be able to bring all these big names back to the stand?

TOOBIN: It's still a long shot. You know, government officials have a lot -- have immunity from suit, except under very narrow circumstances. If these Bush administration figures can say that whatever they did in connection with this case was in the course of their duties, they will be excluded -- they will not -- the judge will not allow this case to proceed.

S. O'BRIEN: Could it force the testimony of Rove and Cheney, which is what people will be interested in watching?

TOOBIN: Certainly that is somewhat more likely than their winning the case. Also, there is the case of damages. You k now, Mr. and Mrs. Wilson have made a lot of money off this case. Both have book contracts. There's a movie deal in place. So there's certainly...

S. O'BRIEN: Career ruined.

TOOBIN: Well, career ruined is on the downside. But as a financial matter, it's probably a net plus for the Wilsons. But certainly they didn't ask for this to come upon them. I think it's going to be a difficult haul for them in the civil suit, even with this victory in town.

S. O'BRIEN: Well, guess what? We're going to be talking about it.

TOOBIN: Well, because the pardon will be a story for the next year and a half.

S. O'BRIEN: Oh, absolutely. Absolutely.

TOOBIN: Possible pardon, that is. S. O'BRIEN: All right. I knew what you meant.

Senior legal analyst Jeff Toobin joining us -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Once again, job security for Mr. Toobin.

Coming up, a new ad campaign hits a sour note for the family of the guitar legend Jimi Hendrix.

Plus, a purple haze of glee this morning for the holders of at least two Mega Millions tickets. We're homing in on them, and I'm sure one of them is a long lost cousin. We'll find out where he or she is ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

Take a look at these amazing pictures from Indonesia shot by an Australian cameraman who happened to be aboard a packed airliner, the Indonesian national airline, as it landed long in Yogyakarta, crashed into the jungle, burst into flames. Twenty-three dead, hundreds did, in fact, survive on that packed airliner.

One of the passengers on board, Alessandro Bertellotti, is on the line with us now.

Alessandro, what can you tell us about the landing? Did you notice anything unusual as the plane approached the landing?

ALESSANDRO BERTELLOTTI, PLANE CRASH SURVIVOR: Yes. In fact, at the very end, when we were approaching the (INAUDIBLE), we realized right away that something was wrong because the plane was going too fast. People started screaming when -- even before landing, and when we touched down on -- when we landed -- in fact, the plane kept its speed without slowing down. It was bouncing on the runway, and the impression was that we would try at least to take off, again, or at least try to slow down.

But (INAUDIBLE) it wasn't able to slow down the plane. And we went through all the runway, and we crashed over the end of the runway and over a speedway (ph) that is just nearby the airport and the airport property after the runway is over. So, this is why it was so difficult to organize helping the survivors, because the plane was, in fact, in an area that was protected by fences, high fences, and was difficult to reach.

M. O'BRIEN: Mr. Bertellotti, so when you landed, it was clear to you that the plane was going too fast. Did it land -- did it bounce on the runways a couple of times?

BERTELLOTTI: Yes. Definitely yes.

M. O'BRIEN: OK.

BERTELLOTTI: And people were panicking, of course. Everyone was screaming. And I realized that -- I took off and landed hundreds of times in Australia and in southeast Asia, and I realized that we wouldn't have stopped at all. So I tried to figure out what to do, and I put my arms in front of my head and touching the seat in front of me (INAUDIBLE).

M. O'BRIEN: And the fact that you can talk to me I'm sure you are immensely grateful for. You must be in a terrible state of shock. Can you describe the emotions that you have endured?

BERTELLOTTI: Well, probably still to understand what really happened. I didn't see the footage on television about the plane, when it went on fire, but when we crashed, the plane had a little fire just ahead of me. So, with a bit of cold blood (ph), I was able to go out (INAUDIBLE) people out in front of me, and I started to realize a crash.

I'm quiet, calm. I flew back from Yogyakarta a couple of hours ago, and it was quite emotional, especially (INAUDIBLE). But, in fact, I'm still (INAUDIBLE) a bit more shocked. But we'll see. Until now, I went through quite (INAUDIBLE).

M. O'BRIEN: All right. Amazing. You got right back on a plane.

Alessandro Bertellotti, thank you.

A survivor of that plane crash in Yogyakarta, Indonesia -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: There is a new vodka on the market and it's called Electric Hendrix, named after the legendary rock star Jimi Hendrix. And it's prompting a lawsuit now by the late guitarist's estate.

Twenty-nine minutes past the hour, Ali is "Minding Your Business" with that story.

They obviously don't love the idea.

ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No. And Jimi Hendrix died in 1971, and it was attributed to a combination of sleeping pills and red wine. So, the -- Jimi Hendrix' sister has said that "As a matter of strict policy, we would certainly never participate in promoting an alcoholic beverage."

The Jimi Hendrix Foundation's Web site says, "It's unfortunate and disrespectful to use Jimi's memory to sell alcohol."

The booze is in a purple-tinted bottle. It's got Jimi Hendrix' face and signature above the label. And it's being sold by a company called Electric Hendrix, LLC, owned by Craig Dieffenbach of Seattle. Dieffenbach says he owns the commercial rights to Hendrix' name and image, and that the family owns the rights just to the music.

The family disputes that, and we're going to see where this goes. But for the moment, he's selling Electric Hendrix vodka.

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

M. O'BRIEN: Ali, thank you. Morning's top stories are next. We'll take you back to the scene of the Indonesia jet crash. We just heard from a survivor. What a dramatic tale he just told. We'll also hear about what investigators are saying, what they think might happen. We're live with that next.

And then how safe is the food we all eat? Some new questions about the inspections of both produce and meat and how it might affects your family, what you're eating for breakfast this morning.

You're watching AMERICAN MORNING, the most news in the morning right here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Good morning to you. Wednesday, March 7th. I'm Miles O'Brien.

S. O'BRIEN: And I'm Soledad O'Brien. Thanks for being with us.

Let's talk about that tale of two tickets, shall we, two tickets that neither of us owns. Two winning tickets were sold in that $370 million Mega Millions Jackpot. I should say at least two, because I don't think California's reported yet. One in New Jersey, the other was in Georgia, and we could get more news out of California.

M. O'BRIEN: Those two people are hoping no more winners, that's for sure. I'll bet they are.

S. O'BRIEN: Let's get right to the phones, as they say. The Georgia Lottery Corporation president and CEO is Margaret Defrancisco joining us.

I guess congratulations are in order for your state, because you're going to get -- someone is going to walk away with a bunch of the dough. What do you know about where this ticket was sold and the area?

MARGARET DEFRANCISCO, GEORGIA LOTTERY CORPORATION: Well, that it was sold up in Dalton, Georgia, which is in the northwest corner of the state, up near Tennessee. And it's on a major highway. It's on Route 75, an interstate. And so this will be kind of the fun of waiting. You know, is it someone who works and lives in the Dalton area. Is it someone from Tennessee who, you know, came down yesterday or some other day between last Friday and last night to buy a ticket? Or is it somebody who's just traveling through. So this will all unfold as the day progresses. It's very exciting.

S. O'BRIEN: It is a veritable cliffhanger. Now you know you've got to split that money, right?

DEFRANCISCO: That's right. We know we have at least one other winning ticket. I'VE talked with New Jersey already this morning, and they're very excited. It was sold in the southern part of New Jersey and so they'll be waiting, too, just to see who it might be.

S. O'BRIEN: You, obviously, have pinpointed to a certain store. Is it, like, a convenient store?

DEFRANCISCO: It is a little food store, convenience store, and...

S. O'BRIEN: Mom and pop kind of place?

DEFRANCISCO: Pardon me?

S. O'BRIEN: Mom and pop kind of place?

DEFRANCISCO: It's actually a small chain, and so it's a major mom and pop, I guess.

S. O'BRIEN: OK, so here's my question for you -- how much money do they get? Let's say it's only two winners of the $370 million, how much money do they walk away with?

DEFRANCISCO: Well, in Georgia we have a bonus that they're going to receive for selling the winning ticket, which I have described as kind of random great luck on their part. They will get a check for $25,000.

S. O'BRIEN: That's it?

DEFRANCISCO: Well, yes.

S. O'BRIEN: All right. Better than nothing.

DEFRANCISCO: That's a nice little bonus.

S. O'BRIEN: Better than what I'm walking away with after the money I spent.

DEFRANCISCO: Or myself.

S. O'BRIEN: Thank you for talking with us this morning.

DEFRANCISCO: Thank you, Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Congratulations to the lucky winners out there.

I don't sound bitter, do I? Not at all.

M. O'BRIEN: No. No.

Moving on to more serious subjects. The crash landing in Indonesia, 23 killed on a Garuda (ph) Air flight. That's the national airline in Indonesia. More than 100 passengers managed to survive. A cameraman from Australia's Channel 7 News captured the pictures you see there. He was onboard that plane as it overshot the runway, apparently, skidded into a rice field and then caught fire. One- hundred and forty were onboard when it came in for a landing at Yogyakarta in central Java.

CNN's Dan Rivers is at the scene in front of the wreckage with the latest on the investigation. Dan, good morning.

DAN RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Miles.

Yes, I'm standing in front of what is left of this flight, a 737- 400, that slammed into the rice field behind me. You might be able to make out in the dark here the white of the tail fin. The rest of the fuselage is all gone, charcoal black, and has been burned away. The top of it is completely melted. That gives you just an idea of just how ferocious the fire and explosion was that engulfed this jet plane, GA-200.

The police now have pretty much sealed this area off and they're going to begin tomorrow with this very meticulous detailed examination of the wreckage. They've recovered all the bodies now. We think the death toll stands at 23. It may rise. There are some people still unaccounted for, but certainly we gather they have now removed all the bodies from the wreckage behind me. And tomorrow, our time, they will begin that detailed examination, trying to find out whether this was a pilot error. There are some reports that he was coming in way too fast, or whether this was some sort of mechanical fault maybe on the landing gear or the brakes of this aircraft.

M. O'BRIEN: Dan, we just talked to a survivor who said he felt that they came in way too fast and kind of bounced a couple times on the runway. He was wondering if he was going to go full throttle and fly back around and try again. The question I have, though, is about the weather at the time. You reported earlier that it was gusty winds not far away when you landed about the same time. Do we know much more about the weather conditions?

RIVERS: I think it was pretty much the same from what I've gathered. It was fairly heavy cloud cover, there's been quite a lot of rain around. You can see that in the fields around here. It was fairly wet. There's lot of puddles around. So there was some rain. There was a bit of wind, but I -- there were no reports of it being some sort of storm or anything too severe.

What you were having said about him having trying to go around and take off again, that doesn't -- is borne out by some of the evidence we see here. It doesn't look like the plane smashed headlong into the bank where this field is. It looks like it sort of bounced off the top of it and then hits into the field behind me. And certainly it seems to have skipped over one of the fences at the end of the runway, which would suggest perhaps the pilot was trying to get the power back on, having realized he was going to overshoot and maybe it just popped over the fence, went through another fence and then smash into the field behind me.

M. O'BRIEN: Dan Rivers in Yogyakarta, thank you very much -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Well, from Scooter Libby to Walter Reed, it's quite a week for the White House, and we mean that in a bad way. We've got Jeff Greenfield straight ahead with some perspective for us. And also some new questions about the safety of the food we eat. Dr. Sanjay Gupta will join us with the personal side of those questions, talking to a family trying to get back to normal after an E. coli nightmare of their own.

You're watching AMERICAN MORNING. The most news in the morning is right here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Not a week to savor inside the White House. The vice president's former chief of staff is now a convicted felon, and the administration is facing withering criticism for not treating wounded veterans properly. Is there a connection between the two stories?

Our senior analyst Jeff Greenfield is here to try to connect the those dots. Can those dots be connected?

JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN SR. ANALYST: Yes, I don't think it is overreaching to see a connection. The connection seems to me to suggest that the whole decision to go to Iraq has been starcrossed at almost every turn. I mean, what was Scooter Libby doing in the first place that led to the conviction? He was trying to lessen the impact of a report by Joseph Wilson, the career diplomat, that a key White House assertion that Saddam was trying to get nuclear uranium was unfounded. Why was the White House so upset about this, because the charge appeared at the very time at the summer of 2003, that a key argument for the war, that Saddam had possessed of mass destruction, was unraveling.

Now, what does the Walter Reed scandal say? It says that for all the rhetoric about supporting the troops, the government appeared to be clueless about the indignities that the troops most in need of support were suffering. And to me those are just two examples of a whole list of things that have just gone really wrong in this administration.

M. O'BRIEN: You look at all the administrations about why it was necessary, the results it was supposed to produce, what do you see?

GREENFIELD: It is not a very impressive record. First, the war was supposedly necessary because Saddam was, to quote the president, a grave and gathering threat. It now appears that Saddam was lying to himself and his potential adversaries about what he had. I remember one official told "Nightline" before the war began that the war would probably cost $1.5 billion.

M. O'BRIEN: And then the oil revenues.

GREENFIELD: And that the oil revenues, many people said, well, it will pay for the cost because we've got the oil flow. We're now well into about a half-trillion dollar area. And by the time you add up the lifetime cost of caring for the injured and interest on the increased debt, and who knows how much longer the folks will be in Iraq, you might be talking about a trillion-dollar war. As far as a bigger argument, free Iraq leads to regime Iran, leads to unfunding of Hezbollah, leads to peace in the Middle East, leads to Democratization in Saudi Arabia. I think we can see where that one's gone.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes, all that's gone by the boards.

Now is it -- at this point, this is all happening as we see it, instant history. Is it possible to really assess the long-term political implications?

GREENFIELD: I don't think it's possible. But one thing we already do know, is look what it did to the reputation of people like Donald Rumsfeld, back for his second tour of secretary of defense, now called by John McCain one of the worst secretaries of defense ever, and look what it did for Colin Powell's reputation. He said that speech to the U.N. where he supposedly proved the WMD charge was a stain on his record. And as far as Vice President Cheney goes, we know find his chief of staff conducted of felony misconduct amid stories that maybe the vice president -- One story that's gone unchallenged is that the vice president asked the president to declassify classified information so that it can be used as part of this public relations offensive. And even some of his friends are saying, this is not just a great time for the vice president or the administration, which I think is the understatement of the week.

M. O'BRIEN: I should say so. So factor this into the presidential campaign then, what do you think?

GREENFIELD: Look back at '06. Competence and corruption were the two key issues that undermined the majority in the Congress. As far as competence goes, the Walter Reed story is almost like a microcosm of Katrina. People most in need of help were denied it. As far as corruption, it may not be corruption in the money sense, but you have the chief of staff of the vice president facing a one-to- three-year jail sentence, that doesn't suggest that they were behaving in the way that the law suggested they did.

So it seems to me, the two issues that hurt the Republicans last November are right there on the horizon again.

M. O'BRIEN: Jeff Greenfield, our senior analyst, thanks for coming in.

(WEATHER REPORT)

S. O'BRIEN: "CNN NEWSROOM" is just a couple minutes away, and Heidi Collins is at the CNN Center. She's got a look at what they've got for you this morning.

Good morning, Heidi.

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: I won the Lottery, Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Congratulations. Can I borrow $5 million?

COLLINS: Sure. No problem. Actually, we do have a lot to talk about this morning. These stories are coming up on the NEWSROOM rundown. Disaster in Indonesia -- a plane overshoots a runway and bursts into flames. Dozens of people walk away from the inferno that many perish. We follow the late developments in that story.

Also, heart protector, cancer preventer, the lowly aspirin, touted as a lifesaver. Dr. Sanjay Gupta will be here to talk about aspirin's downside.

And somebody's rich. You know who you are out there. At least two winning tickets in the record-busting Mega Millions Lottery. There's a $370 million jackpot to divvy up.

Rob Marciano will be with me today right here in the "NEWSROOM," top of the hour -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes, I hope whoever won is really happy today. Good for them.

Heidi, thank you.

COLLINS: You bet.

S. O'BRIEN: Here's a question for you, how confident should you feel as you make lunches today or you're going out for dinner tonight? We're going to talk to a family this morning that's still recovering from that spinach E. coli scare. Let's take a look at some of the questions of the safety of our food supply. That's coming up next on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Spinach, peanut butter, chicken, a whole menu of food that's been hit by some sort of contamination over the last year. Now we're learning that the FDA is getting only another $10 million next year, and their job is to inspect 80 percent of the food supply -- $10 million is not a lot of money for that. The Agricultural Department gets $148 million more, and it only inspects meat and poultry, 20 percent.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta has been taking a look at the medical and personal side of all of this. He'S in Atlanta for us this morning.

Good morning, Sanjay.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

It is confusing, as we sort of try to put this together, who examines what. Literally you have one agency examining the chicken and another agency examining the egg,and they can't even really mandatory recall food off the shelves. I just find the whole system somewhat hard to navigate.

We talk a lot about the numbers, Soledad -- 204 people, as you'll remember, affected by that E. coli spinach outbreak last fall. But who were those people, and what does it mean to be affected? Those are the questions we asked, and I want to introduce you to a family who found themselves in the middle of this E. coli outbreak and had repercussions from it that are unimaginable and will continue for a long time.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sit down and eat.

GUPTA (voice-over): Tiffany and Russell Erickson never thought that eating something as healthy as spinach would cause such chaos in their family.

RUSSELL ERICKSON, SON INFECTED WITH E. COLI: My wife initially got sick. She just felt really awful and was up all night, and then Regan (ph) and Emma both came down with similar illnesses.

GUPTA: Tiffany tested negatively for E. coli but 4-year-old Regan and 3-year-old Emma did not. They were a genetic match for the strain linked to the outbreak. Regan fared much worse than the rest. He spent nearly a month hospitalized on dialysis after his kidneys failed.

TIFFANY ERICKSON, SON INFECTED WITH E. COLI: He was very pale. His eyes and his whole face was just swollen and puffy, and his feet were huge, and it was so scary to look at him and try to remember what he used to looked like.

GUPTA: Regan was one of many. By the time last year's spinach E. coli outbreak had run its course, 204 people were infect would the deadly strain, 104 hospitalized and three people died.

There have been several food-borne illnesses outbreaks since then. More E. coli in lettuce and salmonella in peanut butter. The FDA says the food supply is safe, and the risks are minimal, but...

DR. DAVID ACHESON, FDA: The changes needed to say this isn't going to happen again have not -- they're not there yet. They're a lot of people working towards that. But we're not there yet.

GUPTA: Regan is doing much better now. He's still on medications and sees doctors regularly. His parent say he has more than the physical scars to show from his ordeal.

R. ERICKSON: It's not over. I'm afraid it won't ever be over, because he'll constantly have to watch, you know, his diet and his blood pressure and other things. He'll have to be vigilant his whole life.

GUPTA: And yet, after everything the family went through, Tiffany says she still thinks in general that food is safe, and she does plan to eat spinach again.

(END VIDEOTAPE) GUPTA: So it's sort of amazing, you heard from the FDA there, they're not sure exactly how these changes will impact the overall quality of food safety, but I think we can probably say pretty certainly that the food is no safer now than it was a year ago when you started to see some of these food outbreaks happening.

I was fascinated because, again, when we talk about so many people being affected, you know, this little boy, Regan, is going to be affected probably for the rest of his life. He has to take blood- pressure medications. He's got to worry about his kidneys. He diet has changed, because of certain foods he'll never be able to eat now. So it's tremendous impact -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Why the kidneys? I mean, is it just because he's little, or would it always affect the kidneys in everybody?

GUPTA: What happens is in a percentage of people, about in this case there was 31 people out of 204 people affected, so about a seventh of the people developed something known as hemolytic euremic syndrome, HUS. And what happens is this particular strain of E. coli, this bad strain, releases a toxin, a poison that gets into the bloodstream and seems to affect the kidneys a little bit more so, and it can actually shut the kidneys down. I met another family, which I'm going to introduce you to later that the kidneys were shut down and this little girl's going to be on dialysis probably the rest of her life and need a kidney transplant. So it's the toxin from this bad strain of E. coli that seems to be the culprit here.

S. O'BRIEN: Oh, my goodness. All right, Sanjay, thanks -- Miles.

GUPTA: Thank you.

M. O'BRIEN: Here's a quick look at what "CNN NEWSROOM" is working on for the top of the hour.

UNIDENTIFIED CNN ANCHOR: See these stories in the "CNN NEWSROOM": an airliner overshoots a runway in Indonesia and bursts into flames. Dozens escape the inferno, many don't.

Outrageous interest rates, a fee for this, a penalty for that. Congress taking a look at what consumer groups call abuses by credit card companies.

Hundreds of FEMA trailers sitting empty after Katrina, and tornado victims just 160 miles away want to know why they can't use them, here in the NEWSROOM 9:00 Eastern, 6:00 out west.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: That's all from here on this AMERICAN MORNING.

S. O'BRIEN: "CNN NEWSROOM with Heidi Collins and Rob Marciano begins right now.

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