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Senate Passes War Funding Bill Including Withdrawal Timeline; Apartment Building Collapses in Istanbul; Grand Jury Indicts Police for Killing Grandmother; Iraqis Say Early Withdrawal Spells Disaster; White House Press Briefing
Aired April 26, 2007 - 13:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DON LEMON, CO-HOST: Hello, everyone. I'm Don Lemon live at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CO-HOST: And I'm Suzanne Malveaux in for Kyra Phillips.
This hour, the Iraq showdown between Congress and the president ramps up. Will the Senate call for an early pullout of troops?
LEMON: And trapped under the rubble of a multistory building. Right now, desperate efforts to rescue people after that collapse. We'll go live to Istanbul.
You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.
The voting has started. The veto awaits. As we speak, senators are casting their votes on an Iraq war funding bill complete with a timeline to start removing U.S. forces by October 1 at the very latest.
You're looking at live pictures now. The measure squeaked by the House last night. President Bush has guaranteed he will reject it. His spokeswoman describes the measure as dead before arrival.
Now, on the Senate floor today, opponents said the measure will mean disaster for Iraq.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOE LIEBERMAN (I), CONNECTICUT: In following General Petraeus' path, there is no guarantee of success, but there is hope and a new plan for success. In rejecting General Petraeus' path, as this legislation would do, there is a guarantee of failure, and I fear disaster.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Supporters argue a withdrawal will bring Americans home with dignity and not a day too soon.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JAMES WEBB (D), VIRGINIA: Defeat by whom? Surrender to whom? We won this war four years ago. The question is when we end the occupation. Iraq has been in turmoil for thousands of years. It will be in turmoil of one kind or another long after we leave.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: And we begin on Capitol Hill with the latest on the Senate vote from our congressional correspondent, Andrea Koppel -- Andrea.
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Don, this vote is significant for a couple of reasons. One, once it passes, and we all expect it will, this will be the first time that the now Democratically controlled Congress will send President Bush binding legislation requiring him to begin withdrawing all U.S. combat troops from Iraq by October, if not sooner, and then complete -- at least have the goal there of completing that withdrawal -- by April 1 of next year.
The second reason it's significant is because this would only be the second time in the Bush presidency that Mr. Bush would veto a piece of legislation, the last time, of course, being when he vetoed the stem cell bill -- Don.
LEMON: All right. And we will come back to this. Andrea, thank you so much. We're going to come back to this, bring it to you live when the vote wraps up.
MALVEAUX: And there's another developing story. We go to Bonnie Schneider from the CNN weather center. I understand that there are several tornado warnings?
(WEATHER REPORT)
MALVEAUX: And Bonnie, of course, we'll be following all those developments, including any I-Reports that we get in about those tornadoes, those different sites. But Bonnie Schneider, thank you so much for the update.
LEMON: And we told you about this right at the beginning of the broadcast. There's a frantic search underway in Istanbul, Turkey, where an eight-story apartment building has collapsed.
Andrew Finkel is a freelance journalist, and he's on the scene now. He joins us now by phone with the latest.
Andrew, what can you tell us about this?
ANDREW FINKEL, FREELANCE JOURNALIST: The good news is someone has been rescued. A girl has been pulled out alive. We believe that there are very many people trapped under the building.
The good news was that there were signs of cracks about an hour before this happened. The building collapsed exactly two hours ago. But about three hours ago, the residents began to hear noises with inside the building. It was a construction site next door. That obviously fatally undermined the integrity of the building. And people started to -- to leave.
It turns out that some people may have tried to come back to get their things. We're not exactly sure how many people are underneath the rubble, but we know so far no one is dead. There have been no casualties, and one person has actually been saved, Don.
LEMON: OK, Andrew. You said so far, no casualties, which is surprising in all of this, considering that building.
This is what I want to know. Set the scene for us, because we're here in the U.S. Tell us what time it is there, what time this happened, if people were awake, asleep, on their way home from work, and then set the scene for us at the time this happened.
FINKEL: This -- it's -- it's evening here. The sun is just setting. This would have happened two hours ago just as people were starting to come home from work. The houses would have had housewives preparing the dinner.
There are 12 apartments in this building. This is a -- a normal, lower-middle-class residential block in a neighborhood of Istanbul a little past the airport.
LEMON: OK.
FINKEL: A busy scene, busy street. And -- and it's -- it's, you know, just sort of an everyday sort of neighborhood.
LEMON: It appears, Andrew, just from the video that we're looking at, you said some people were trying to come back and get their belongings, and there was some concern about that. But it looks like people are also trying to help out in digging through this rubble, as well?
FINKEL: Well, that's the thing. When -- this isn't the first time that these sorts of neighborhoods have known tragedy. In 1999, there was a terrible earthquake here in neighborhoods not far from Sirinevler, the place where this happened. Rather ironically, it translates as suite houses.
There were some serious buildings and very serious casualties with buildings collapsing. That earthquake happened and the collapse happened in the middle of the night.
So neighbors are used to sort of rushing to the rescue. And of course, there's a certain amount of skilled and qualified people from that time who know how to rescue people under buildings, who know how to not to -- know how to not disturb the rubble so that more casualties occur.
So there's a certain amount of experience in this. And of course, these are the sorts of neighborhoods where people rush immediately to each other's help -- Don.
LEMON: OK. And Andrew Finkel, yes, just looking at information just coming over the wires now, the person you talked about, the survivor identified as a girl. That's by the mayor there in that particular town. So it appears that the person -- there was someone rescued, as you said. It's a young girl. We're going to continue to update our viewers on this story, and we may be depending on you throughout the day for this, Andrew Finkel, freelance journalist in Istanbul. Thank you so much, sir.
MALVEAUX: The top U.S. commander in Iraq made the rounds at Capitol Hill this week to argue against imposing deadlines for U.S. troop withdrawals. The vote is under way in the Senate right now.
Earlier this morning, General David Petraeus briefed reporters at the Pentagon.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GEN. DAVID PETRAEUS, COMMANDER, MULTINATIONAL FORCES IN IRAQ: You know, what I've said is that there's a Washington clock ticking. Actually, to be fair to those in Washington, it's an American clock. And -- but that clock is moving, and it's moving at a rapid rate of speed. And it reflects the frustration impatience, disappointment, anger, and a variety of other emotions, feel about the pace in Iraq, and the situation in Iraq.
And, you know, I am not immune to those emotions either, having given over 2 1/2 years of my life to it and watched a number of our soldiers give the last full measure of devotion to it. So we want to see faster progress. And again, that is understandable that that clock is moving pretty rapidly.
The Baghdad clock, for all the reasons that I mentioned, is not moving as rapidly. It -- it is not enough, for example, to go to Prime Minister Maliki, who I do believe, as I mentioned, is someone who wants to lead and serve all Iraqis, but it's not enough to go to him.
He's not the Prime Minister Tony Blair of Iraq. He does not have a parliamentary majority. He does not have his ministers in all of the ministries. They are from all kinds of different parties. They sometimes sound a bit discordant in their statements to the press and their statements to other countries. It's a very, very challenging situation in which -- in which to lead.
And so as I mentioned to some of the congressional leaders yesterday, in fact, we need to encourage and provide that -- that -- those emotions to all Iraqi leaders, the key leaders of the key parties of the key blocks of the Shia, Sunni, Kurds, and so forth.
And, again, the key elements within those blocks. And leaders in the council of representatives, leaders of the presidency, leaders of -- again, that is what is necessary. And they're all going to have to work together to make progress.
That's a tall order, but that is what does have to happen. They understand it. I think that a number of them are determined to do what is necessary to achieve resolution of these very difficult issues. But, again, I make no bones about the challenges that are involved there.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: That, General David Petraeus briefing reporters this morning at the Pentagon.
And also, we are keeping a very close eye on the Senate floor. Votes being cast by members of the Senate on whether or not they approved that Iraq war funding resolution that would also include a time line -- a timetable for withdrawal of U.S. troops.
That is a bill that the president says he will automatically veto. So, it will be very interesting to see whether or not those senators defy the will of the president, they say, on behalf of the American people.
LEMON: We'll be following that story, of course, Suzanne, and this one.
A grand jury here in Atlanta has indicted three narcotics officers in a botched drug raid that left an elderly woman shot to death in her home. Two of the officers are charged with murder.
Our Rusty Dornin has been following the investigation for months, and she joins us now with the very latest on this -- Rusty.
RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, at this hour, all three of those officers are appearing before a court to make some kind of plea agreement.
Two of the officers are charged with felony murder charges and also lying, making false statements, false imprisonment. Assault, aggravated assault are also included within those charges.
Now, this case, of course, has aroused a lot of community anger because of the way it was handled. It was a no-knock warrant, where they just go up to the door and crash through the door.
LEMON: Right.
DORNIN: And apparently, the woman, a 92-year-old woman, although the medical examiner says she's 88, she apparently, according to police, had pulled a gun. And that's why they shot her. But now that's very unclear what really did happen.
The other interesting thing is one of the officers who was injured, reportedly by her, has not been charged at all in the case.
LEMON: And obviously this -- they believe this is wrongdoing. But I think the bigger question is, is this systemic? Has it happened before with these officers, which there's some indication, according to published reports, that it has happened and that they're being investigated for another time.
Do you expect major changes because of this in the Atlantic Police Department, a la the Chicago Police Department with the videotaped beating? DORNIN: Well, the Atlanta Police Department and the police chief immediately turned this investigation over to federal authorities. And they are the ones that are going to be -- of course, working with the Atlanta Police Department. And, yes, they're going to be taking a hard look at these no-knock warrants and how they're able to obtain them.
In the past they've been able -- the judges issue these no-knock warrants just on the statements made by the officers with not a lot of proof. And in this case, this particular warrant was issued and claiming that there were cameras at this woman's house, and that there were drug dealers.
LEMON: This is the warrant right here.
DORNIN: This is the warrant that was issued originally to the officers, claiming that there was an informant by the name of -- a man named Sam dealing drugs. The informant apparently later said, "I never told them that there were any drugs at that house. I never did that."
So much of what was contained in this warrant was not true. But these magistrates often just sign off very quickly on these because they learn to trust the officers, they believe what they're saying. And of course, this is the thing that's going to be looked very closely at in the future.
LEMON: And real quickly, we have to move on. But the next time we see or hear from these officers, court appearance coming up, right?
DORNIN: It's going to be court appearance right now going on. And then they will be -- it's going before a federal grand jury to make statements before a federal grand jury, and then they may take some action, as well.
LEMON: Rusty Dornin, thank you so much for that.
MALVEAUX: And the road runs out for the man dubbed the most hated dad in America, ahead in the NEWSROOM.
LEMON: And cancer gets a thumbs down -- two thumbs down from Roger Ebert, and so does hiding the reality of his close call. Ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM, Roger Ebert joins us with more on getting on with life and bringing his own La-Z-Boy to the movies.
MALVEAUX: And will the ball head to the president's court? Ahead in the NEWSROOM, we will take you live to the White House briefing for the latest on the controversial war funding bill.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: It is 16 past the hour, almost 17 past the hour. And here are three of the stories we're working on for you right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Right now, the Senate is voting on an Iraq war funding bill that includes a timeline for pulling out troops. The House passed the bill yesterday, despite President Bush's veto threat. As soon as we have a final tally, we will go there, live, in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Charges are filed against three Atlanta police officers who were part of a botched drug raid that resulted in the death of an elderly woman. Two of the men face murder counts.
And at least eight people are dead after a terrible accident on the Indiana toll road near South Bend. It is believed to have started in a construction zone in a downpour.
MALVEAUX: The man known as the most hated dad in America is back behind bars.
Byron Keith Perkins was captured yesterday in Mexico. He was let out of jail last year to donate a kidney to a son who desperately needed his help. But he took off instead.
CNN national correspondent Susan Candiotti joining us with more on Perkins' arrest.
I still can't believe this story, Susan. I just can't believe it.
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's a hard one. And you can imagine the toll that it's taken on his son. Hello, Suzanne.
Right we're waiting for word from Los Angeles on just when Byron Perkins will be making a court appearance. But there's breaking news now. Back to you.
MALVEAUX: We're going to go to the Senate floor now, where there's an announcement on the vote regarding the Iraq spending bill.
SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV), MAJORITY LEADER: Madam President?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Leader?
REID: For members of the Senate, as we've announced, there will be no roll call votes this week, we hope that we can move on Monday without any problems to the FDA reauthorization, extremely important piece of legislation that Senator Kennedy and Senator Enzi worked on for months now. And we hope we can move to that.
We know that people want to offer amendments, and certainly, that will be part of what we're doing here, because the bill is imperfect. But it's a bill that we must move forward. It's for -- with all the food safety and health safety issues that have come up during the past several years, we must do this.
So we're going to move to that bill on Monday. That will be the next order of business for the Senate.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Madam President?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Senator from California. SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN (D), CALIFORNIA: Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now proceed to a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak up to ten minutes each and that the following senators be recognized in the following order: Senator Shelby, three minutes; senators Feinstein and Feingold, ten minutes total; Senator Bunning, 15 minutes; and Senator Schumer, 15 minutes.
MALVEAUX: Let's now go to Senator Mitch McConnell, who is now speaking. Sorry.
SEN. JOHN THUNE (R), SOUTH DAKOTA: I think that it is a very clear-cut issue. This has been going on now for 80 days. We've got troops in the field who desperately need the funding. We've got the military making decisions and judgments now about what -- how they're going to rob from Peter to pay Paul.
This is a situation which desperately needs to be addressed. The Democrats have made their political statement. This confrontation with the president does a disservice to our troops. It does nothing to enhance our ability to complete our mission or get the job done.
And I would join with my Republican colleagues here in urging the Democrats to very quickly get this veto behind us, to get it back up here, get a clean bill that we can pass through the Congress very quickly on the president's desk and get this much-needed funding to our troops.
SEN. SAXBY CHAMBLISS (R), GEORGIA: Georgia's home to the 3rd Infantry Division of the United States Army. Ft. Benning and Ft. Stewart is proud to be the home of the 3rd I.D.
Today the 3rd I.D. is on their third tour in Iraq. The men and women in the 3rd I.D. do not believe what the Democrats are saying, that this war is lost.
The men and women of the 3rd I.D. need the funding to make sure they've got the armament and all of the physical support that they need to continue to fight this war every single day.
The men and women of the 3rd I.D. simply do not agree with the Democrats, who want to tuck tail and run. Georgians don't want to do that. The military does not want to do that.
The important thing that should be done right now is that a bill be sent to the president which provides funding for the war.
MALVEAUX: OK.
CHAMBLISS: And that the war continue in the way that General David Petraeus told us yesterday it needs to continue. And that is in a positive way.
MALVEAUX: That, of course, the announcement that that was the resolution that the senators voted for, and it actually passed. We're going to go to our White House correspondent, Ed Henry, the briefing just within moments.
What do we expect to hear from Dana Perino?
ED HENRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Dana Perino actually backed up the briefing a few minutes so that it would occur after this vote, so the White House could give some on-camera reaction.
Off camera this morning, really, what we were expecting. Dana Perino once again charging that this is essentially a surrender date by having a specific timetable for withdrawal drawing U.S. troops, that this is going to, in the White House's words, handcuff U.S. generals on the ground.
And also interesting, Dana Perino is starting to tee off on something that CNN first reported yesterday, that senior Democrats are starting to make a lot of political hay out of the notion that they're looking forward to seeing the president veto this bill as early as next Monday, which is the day before Tuesday's fourth anniversary of the president's now infamous "mission accomplished" speech.
You remember that speech, of course, aboard the USS Lincoln, where the president declared that major combat operations were over.
Dana Perino today raising a question off camera about whether or not the Democrats deliberately sort of dragged their heels on this process and delayed it and delayed it, so that they could have this veto next week right before that fourth anniversary.
Democrats on the Hill insist they didn't deliberately drag it out. But they do say that it's a coincidence they have noted, and they're going to be very happy to try to point out what they see to be some irony there, Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: Thank you so much. Of course, I know you've got to go to the briefing. We'll be keeping an eye on that.
And Don, want to let you know here -- I mean, Ed brings up a very good point. It's all about the timing here. You're going to hear Dana Perino say, quick, get that bill to the desk so we can actually veto it.
The Democrats want this Friday, Saturday, Sunday, all of us are going to be talking about this, building that case against the president. That also, too, on that anniversary, the day before that anniversary where he made that statement, major combat over before that "mission accomplished" banner.
So it's -- it's all about a lot of stage craft at this point and symbolism, as well.
LEMON: Absolutely. And we're going to talk more about this, Suzanne, throughout the day right here.
And right now, you know what? We're going to go to Iraq right now. CNN's Arwa Damon is tracking the reaction. In fact, she is in Baghdad -- Arwa. ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Don, really the way that this is going to play out here, we're speaking about setting a timetable for U.S. troop withdrawal. Many people who you will speak to actually say that if the troops withdraw prematurely, the consequences would simply be disastrous.
They will point to the number of groups that are actually operating on the ground. And if we take a look at them, you're talking about elements of al Qaeda in Iraq and the Sunni insurgency. You're talking about Shias that are largely influenced and getting funding and support from Iran. And then you also have the U.S. military and the U.S. Iraqi security forces.
And many senior U.S. commanders, as well as troops on the ground, Iraqi commanders as well as Iraqi troops on the ground, will tell you that a premature U.S. withdrawal from Iraq would be simply disastrous.
The Iraqi soldiers who you speak with that are fighting out in the streets day-to-day are still drawing a very large amount of training and expertise from their American counterparts. Put simply, they are not equipped to handle the situation on their own right now.
You look at the Iraqi government, which many members of parliament will right now tell you is effectively paralyzed and unable to even push the simplest legislation through, unable to -- the Iraqi prime minister is unable to change his own ministers.
Really, many of the men and women that are here in Iraq, be it Iraqis or Americans, will tell you that a premature U.S. withdrawal will just have disastrous consequences for this country, Don.
LEMON: All right. And Arwa, we're going to have more on that. As a matter of fact, we're going to check in a little bit later on with CNN's -- thank you very much for that, Arwa -- CNN's Kyra Phillips and Michael Ware, who are both just back from Baghdad. We're going to get some -- some perspective from them.
But again, if you're just joining us, the Senate has just passed a war funding bill with the deadlines on it, 51246. We have continuing coverage right here right now in the CNN NEWSROOM.
MALVEAUX: And obviously, the debate very different here in the United States different than what Arwa Damon is hearing. A lot of senators saying, look, they want those troops to come home as quickly as possible.
We go back to the Capitol. This is where we are hearing from some of the senators now, our own congressional correspondent Andrea Koppel talking to many of them.
Andrea, what are they saying?
KOPPEL: Well, they're repeating what they said in the lead-up to this vote, Suzanne. And that is that this is a -- this is a date for surrender. The fact that there is this goal now of next year, April of next year by which all U.S. combat troops should be out of Iraq. But, remember, the vote was 51-46. There were two Republicans who crossed over, much as they did earlier this month: Chuck Hagel of Nebraska and Gordon Smith of Oregon, who crossed over to vote with Democrats. You had Joe Lieberman, who is now an independent, who voted against this bill.
But come next week, when President Bush vetoes this bill, as we've been pointing out, you're going to see both sides jockeying for position. The Republicans and the White House blaming Democrats for holding up this emergency funding in the troops. Democrats, on the other hand, saying, "We gave you a bill, Mr. President. It had over $100 billion in it, not just for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but for other emergencies like helping war veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan over at Walter Reed, as well as Hurricane Katrina and whatnot. It's on your desk, and if you choose to veto it, it's on your head."
MALVEAUX: Andrea, obviously a showdown. And it -- I guess it could get a lot uglier here. But we know that Monday is going to be the very big day. We've expected this. And Monday we're going to keep an eye on that.
And, of course, we're going to keep an eye on a White House briefing that's going to happen momentarily.
LEMON: Yes. Thanks very much, Andrea Koppel. And as our White House correspondent, who is sitting here told us, Suzanne Malveaux. And Ed Henry, who's on the White House lawn, he's about to attend a briefing at the White House. We're standing by for that.
Again, the Senate approved an Iraq war funding bill with timelines, deadlines for the troops, 51-46. Continuing coverage right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Hello everyone. I'm Don Lemon live from the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.
MALVEAUX: And I'm Suzanne Malveaux in for Kyra Phillips. The war over war funding. The Senate approves a pullout. What is the White House going to say? We're going to be live to the briefing. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
LEMON: More from that briefing in just a moment. But first, still burning, still spreading. Wild fires in southeast Georgia now 11 days old and getting a second wind, wind ahead of the cold front there. About 60,000 acres have burned already. A number of communities are threatened. More people may have to clear out before the rain starts falling sometime tonight. And that same storm system brought torrential rains last night to the Kansas City area, flash flooding, look at that caught some drivers by surprise. You should never drive through those things. It was a boon for hardware stores, causing a run on carpet driers and even dehumidifiers. A much more serious cleanup and recovery are under way in Eagle Pass, Texas. Seven people were killed when a tornado ripped through the city Tuesday night, another three dead in neighboring Pietras Negras. That's in Mexico. Neither city had storm alert sirens. Straight now to Bonnie Schneider keeping watch on all of this in the severe weather center. Bonnie?
BONNIE SCHNEIDER, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, Don the situation is changing moment by moment. We had two tornado warnings for Butler and for Crenshaw County in Alabama. They expired. Within one minute, a new warning was issued for Crenshaw County once again. This one goes until 1:15 p.m. Central time and you can see it does include some of the cities that we were talking about earlier like Rutledge and Laverne. Unfortunately the storm has a history of producing very, very heavy downpours of rain and strong wind so we're watching it closely. You can see the county, Crenshaw County south of Montgomery right now. And you're getting a closer look at the storms. We're just watching a cell here that looks pretty powerful. You can see it here right there through parts of central Alabama.
This is part of a larger system that's moving to the northeast at 35 miles per hour. Some of the heaviest weather, the strongest downpours to the south, coming now across the panhandle of Florida and that's stretching across I-10. So if you're driving along I-10, it may be sunny and fine as you head towards Tallahassee and Panama City. But then drive to the west towards Mobile and you will face those heavy downpours and we're also getting reports of hail with this system as well.
To the north, we also have a lot of lightning associated with this system. As we slide further to the north, look at this, frequent real time lightning for you across Indianapolis and then back out through central Illinois. Chicago -- not too bad right now. But the problem for Chicago is not only the downpours of rain, but the low cloud coverage, causing major delays across Chicago. We're getting reports of airport delays over two hours. This is just the beginning. You can see most of the airport delays are on the increase. We'll have more coming up, Don?
LEMON: And two major airports, Midway and O'Hare there in Chicago is going to cause lots of problems. We're going to check back with you, Bonnie, thank you.
MALVEAUX: Another story we're checking on, the Senate has just joined the House in approving a timetable to begin pulling U.S. forces from Iraq. But just like the House, supporters do not have anywhere near the numbers they need to override a presidential veto. The vote was 51-46 on a war-funding bill that would start removing troops in October 1 at the latest. It's followed sharp disagreement over the impact of a U.S. departure.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. SAM BROWNBACK (R) KANSAS: If the president were to sign this, he's not going to sign it, but if he does sign it, if he would sign it, it would be the day that al Qaeda would declare victory. It would be the day that the deadline is set. It would be the day they would declare victory, much of the world would agree. SEN. ROBERT BYRD (D) WEST VIRGINIA: President Bush has tried to scare the pants off of the public by suggesting that our bill could result in death and destruction in America. What utter nonsense.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: And you hear a fierce debate that is taking place right now. The daily White House briefing will start just moments away. We're going to bring reaction to the Senate vote as soon as we hear it. Obviously, we expect that it's going to be forceful. They've been delaying the briefing, actually, so that they can see what the vote was. And then, just simply hit them again.
LEMON: Absolutely. You're not going to miss any of it. We're going to bring it to you right here in the CNN NEWSROOM if anything happens.
We're going to move on to business now. Yesterday, it was lucky 13 for the Dow industrials. Stephanie Elam is live on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange to see if the blue chip average can hold above 13,000, that level there. Hi, Stephanie, good to see you.
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good to see you too, Don and Suzanne. We're actually if you take a look at the markets right now, yeah, we're above. We're doing a little bit better. But it's not that great push forward that we saw yesterday, taking a look at the Dow right now. It's on the upside by about eight points. We're at 13,098 right now. It's not a huge movement there. There you can see the shot of the big board. The Nasdaq is higher. The S&P is lower. So we're seeing a bit of a mixed move here as we see that the enthusiasm despite some really great earnings reports is just not really there right now today.
Two Dow components have already been reported, one being 3M and also ExxonMobil. After the bell, we'll hear from Microsoft. One company I do want to tell you a little bit more though about is ExxonMobil. They were actually the only Dow component that was down yesterday after that great run up, but part of it was because we were waiting to get their earnings out this morning and they came in better than expected. But Wall Street doesn't seem too impressed with it even though they did come in with a 10 percent pop in the first quarter, net income coming in at $9 billion here. Revenues however were weaker by 2 percent and that's because of those year-over-year comparisons as far as oil and gas prices are concerned although I don't think too many people are crying for them on that one.
Here's another thing to take into account. During the first quarter of the year, oil prices were actually about 8 percent lower than they were in the first quarter of last year. That's accounting for that difference there. But they are the world's largest company based on market cap, so a lot of people pay attention to what's going on at ExxonMobil. And if you remember, back in 2005 and 2006, they posted the biggest profit ever for a U.S. company back then, Don.
LEMON: And how's the markets doing today, Stephanie? ELAM: The markets right now, I mean, they're up, but it's not that big of a big deal. Looking at the Dow is pretty much just above the flat line here. So (INAUDIBLE) see if we can eke out a little bit more of a gain here. If we do, it will be the 18th out of 20 sessions that the Dow has moved higher.
LEMON: All right, we'll be checking back. Hopefully it will hold above 13,000. Stephanie Elam on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Thanks so much.
ELAM: Thanks.
MALVEAUX: A close Senate vote sets off a showdown with the White House for the future of the U.S. mission in Iraq. A live White House briefing ahead here in the NEWSROOM.
LEMON: Also, cancer gets two big thumbs down from Roger Ebert and so does hiding the reality of his close call ahead here on the CNN NEWSROOM, Roger Ebert joins us with more on getting on with life and bringing his own La-Z-Boy to the movies. We're back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: New video in to CNN, look at that, that's Burke County, North Carolina. Those are brush fires there, obviously in need of some rain in these parts. The wind, no doubt, fueling much of this. As a matter of fact, why don't we check in with our meteorologist, Bonnie Schneider to talk about these pictures and Bonnie, if these folks are going to have some help and what's fueling all of this.
SCHNEIDER: The winds are very strong right now, Don. They are out of the southwest at 21 miles per hour. But we've had gusts higher than that. The good news is, there's a lot of rain coming in to western North Carolina. The wind direction coming from the southwest is blowing the smoke towards the southeast. We're looking at Hickory, North Carolina, which is not far from the area. The temperatures at 77 and the winds are out of the southwest. You can see, the gusts right now are at 21. They have been higher than that earlier this morning.
We're talking about an area all week long that has been very warm and very dry. Most of North Carolina was under an area of fire danger earlier in the week because of the hot, dry and windy conditions. Finally today, relief is coming in in the form of rain, though it's not there yet. And what you can see from the pictures is the winds are so strong that as the fire climbs up the trees, actually the sparks jump from tree to tree. When the winds are this fierce, the fire spreads very, very quickly and it's difficult to contain. As the rain comes across, that will help matters but we're also going to watch for a change in wind direction. Hopefully, the fire will be contained by later tonight but we will see a shift in the wind as we get a front coming through. You can see a more expansive picture there.
Here's where the fire is located. This is Burke County in western North Carolina. And you can see on our radar picture right now that the rain is just starting to come in. The winds coming in from the southwest. The smoke plume will be right here blowing further to the north. There's Hickory, some of the major cities. This is well north of Charlotte, North Carolina and well to the west of Winston- Salem kind of in the mountains and foothills of the Piedmont of North Carolina. Real time wind data for you now shows right now the winds are coming in around to the south gusting anywhere to about 21 miles per hour. Some of the sustained winds are also strong. To the south the winds are also pretty strong as well. So we're kind of seeing the winds pick up in advance of this rain coming in. But the rain will come in and we are expecting some good significant downpours that will help matters, Don?
LEMON: That's what I want to ask you. It would be presumptuous to think that just getting some rain might help out. It depends on how much rain and how long it lasts.
SCHNEIDER: Yes and there is other factor. If these storms turn later this afternoon, a little bit more severe in terms of lightning, that could make matters worse. Right now we're not seeing lightning associated with the rain you see here but later this afternoon, we are anticipating that as showers and thunderstorms with lighting are in the forecast later today. The bigger picture shows you some of the heavier rain is to the north and to the mountains of Tennessee and to the south as well. We're showing you the storms in Alabama and Georgia, but right now some of that heavy rain will clip the northern Piedmont of the mountains and foothills of western North Carolina.
LEMON: And Bonnie Schneider, thank you so much, following all of today's severe weather and those brush fires and handling that new video for us. Thank you so much. We'll certainly check back with you.
MALVEAUX: Rosie O'Donnell may be giving up her day job, but she's not going to be leaving TV. Yesterday, O'Donnell told viewers she'll step down from the ABC gab fest "The View" when her contract is up in June. She promises to return for hour-long specials and as an occasional guest host. Crystal McCrary Anthony, hosts BET's "My Two Cents." She spoke with our own Kiran Chetry about O' Donnell's departure and her own future.
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CRYSTAL McCRAREY ANTHONY, HOST, BET'S "MY TWO CENTS": Rosie is a franchise. Rosie has the world at her feet at this point. She has made "The View" relevant again. She is a publicity magnet. She may go on Broadway. She may have her own late night talk show, which might be more appropriate for her sort of humor. She could do anything she wants to do. She is a child advocate. She has charities, who knows. Will she come back for an hour here and there to do specials? I'm not so sure.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: She could write her ticket right now with the other networks, her own show.
ANTHONY: Absolutely and from what I hear from some insiders, there's big interest at some of the major networks for her to have her own show.
CHETRY: So if you were a betting woman, do you think she wanted to leave or do you think they wanted her out?
ANTHONY: I think it probably was a little bit of both. But I think one thing that we learned from the Star Jones situation was that their family business at "The View" is going to remain their family business. They're not going to broadcast it. I think that that was carefully orchestrated yesterday and was handled as diplomatically as possible.
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MALVEAUX: So O'Donnell insists that she was not forced out. She says that ABC wanted a three-year contract. She wanted just one. There's no word on what she plans on doing next, but sources tell "USA Today" that she is considering reviving her own talk show -- no doubt, she will be back. No doubt. We will see lots of Rosie.
LEMON: She is going to be back. Of course, she's also a comedian and a movie star, right? She starred in a number of movies. Since we're talking about movies, let's talk about film critic, Roger Ebert. He says he's not a pretty boy anymore, but he's not out of the picture either. Ebert has gone public with his battle against cancer and how it's changed his life and his appearance.
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LEMON (voice-over): Roger Ebert, not just a film critic -- an American I con and Pulitzer Prize winner who's interviewed presidents and wields enormous power with the direction of his most famous thumbs. Turned up, they can make a Hollywood director or movie starlet's career. Turned down, they can tank even the best publicized would-be blockbuster. But for over a year now, the Ebert fingers have been silenced along with his voice -- cancer of the salivary glands spread to his lower jaw. The operation took away his ability to speak. And more medical complications left him bedridden for months. He had to learn to walk again. But Roger Ebert is up and walking at his ninth annual film festival in Champagne, Illinois. His wife, Chaz (ph), is doing the talking for him.
CHAZ EBERT: This is my half of me and it freaks me out.
LEMON: And those famous thumbs?
EBERT: Would you give it a thumbs up?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Well, earlier today, I talked with Roger Ebert. I should say I had the pleasure of speaking with Roger Ebert and his lovely wife, Chaz, from his film festival in Champagne, Illinois. Their strength and humor amazed me.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) LEMON: What do you want people to think -- you, Chaz, first and then him, when they hear the name Roger Ebert. What do you want foremost in people's mind?
EBERT: I can't tell you what I would want other people to think. When I hear the name Roger Ebert, first of all, I think of an incredibly brilliant man because he's very bright. That's one of the things that attracted me to him. And, also, a man who cares very much about other people. Roger is to his very soul, a humanitarian. That's another thing that attracted me to him. He's also very funny. And I loved his sense of humor, so -- but I now -- I think when people hear the name Roger Ebert, they will thing think brave, courageous, and inspiring.
LEMON: Look at that, I saw your expression, Roger.
EBERT: What Roger would like people to think when they hear the name Roger Ebert, is a critic who tries to report on the way he loved the movies and sometimes hates them.
LEMON: And maybe Roger should have been a doctor because I see you're having trouble with his handwriting there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: They were -- they were really unbelievable. It was an enjoyable interview. I also spoke with the Eberts about why it was so important for him to make a public appearance now and how they've made it through months of treatments for cancer and you'll be inspired by Roger's answer. That's going to happen a little later on on the NEWSROOM. But I do have to tell you, he is still writing his two books. I hope I can say this on TV. One of them is called "Your Movie Sucks" and the other one is "Awake in the Dark." So we're going talk to him more -- much more coming up.
MALVEAUX: They look a great and fascinating interview.
LEMON: And they're great people, great people.
MALVEAUX: Thank you, Don. We've been talking about another story that's a close Senate vote now, the showdown with the White House. The future of the U.S. mission in Iraq. A live White House briefing right up ahead in the NEWSROOM.
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LEMON: We want to get you to the White House now. Dana Perino speaking about the Iraq war funding bill, sure to come up.
DANA PERINO, DEP. WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: date for surrender, micromanages our commanders and generals in combat zones from 6000 miles away and adds billions of dollars in unrelated spending to the fighting on the ground. I just spoke to the president in the oval office. And as he said he would for weeks, the president will veto this legislation and he looks forward to working with congressional leaders to craft a bill that he can sign. It is amazing that legislation urgently needed to fund our troops took 80 days to make its way around the capital. But that's where we are. Questions?
QUESTION: When will the president veto the bill?
PERINO: We still don't know when we will get the bill. So I just saw that -- someone left me a fortune - sorry, distracted. We don't know when we're going to get the bill. So, we'll take a -- we'll make that decision once we have it.
QUESTION: Will the goal be to veto it as soon as possible?
PERINO: The president has said that he wants to get the money to the troops as soon as possible. And so as soon as we get the bill, the president as you imagine would make good on his promise to veto it. And then we'll take it from here. And you can assume that the president would soon meet quickly after that with the congressional leaders in order to start work on the bill.
QUESTION: Do you see it as a (INAUDIBLE) step to veto it and get on to the next stage, or do you see the White House staging some sort of an event around it?
PERINO: Little bit too early to preview. But the main point is the president's going to veto the bill and get to work with congressional members on the next step.
QUESTION: The latest CBS news poll has 64 percent of those polled in favor of setting timetables for an Iraqi withdrawal of American troops. And that dovetails I think with an NBC/"Wall Street Journal" poll that had similar results yesterday. So, clearly, the administration is not on the same page as the majority of the American public.
PERINO: I said it many times before, so I'll just repeat it. We understand that Americans are tired of this war. They are weary and they are frustrated and they want the troops to come home. We want the troops to come home as well. You're talking about a date for withdrawal. The president is the commander in chief. He stands on principle. He does not make decisions based on -- his principle is that he's not going to put our troops into the position of having a surrender date without providing the Iraqis the chance that they need in order to get the political reconciliation that they need.
QUESTION: Question -- isn't his principle at this point clearly in opposition with the majority of the American people?
PERINO: I can't tell you exactly how your poll ran or how the question was phrased. I do think that the American people would understand that rashly pulling out quickly without conditions being right on the ground is dangerous to the long-term security interests of the United States. It's incumbent upon this administration to explain why we think that is the case and I understand that there are people who disagree, people who are ready for the troops to come home. The president strongly believes that setting the date for surrender is not the way to do that. QUESTION: ... because I think what's most interesting in this poll is that two weeks ago, the number was 57 percent and now it's 64 percent. So, Americans are watching. They've been watching the last few weeks. The movement is against what the administration's position is.
PERINO: Jim, you've covered the White House long enough to know that this president does not make decisions or change with the wind as the polls change. He understands that it's not popular. He understands how he could be popular, but he isn't going to continue to have the principled stance that he has.
QUESTION: It's not an issue about popularity at this point. It's a question of which path are you going to take? The president continues to stay on a path which at least the polls as a representation of some kind of national opinion seem to suggest are more divergent than ever.
PERINO: Jim -- one thing I would say is that it's not just the president who believes that a precipitous withdrawal is a bad idea. General David Petraeus, who was on Capitol Hill yesterday and gave a press conference today has said similar. As did the Iraq Study Group, the Baker Hamilton Group, as did the national intelligence estimate that is the consensus of the 16 intelligence agencies that looked into this issue. They all said that a precipitous withdrawal would be devastating for Iraq and for the region and then ultimately have negative consequences for the long-term security of this country.
QUESTION: The president has often said that he understands the patience of the American people is not unlimited. Should we interpret that to mean that patience should extend to the end of his term?
PERINO: What the president has asked -- he understood last November that people wanted a change in the war. He, himself, said he wasn't satisfied with the way that it was going and so he took pains to have a comprehensive review in order to create the Baghdad security plan now being implemented by David Petraeus. What the president has asked for is for the Congress to give and to the American people, to give this plan the chance to work. And what you heard from David Petraeus this week -- sorry, I should call him General Petraeus, is that he doesn't have all of the troop there that he's asked for. That should be about mid June, he said when they will all get there. They're having small signs of success. The sectarian violence is down. But we have the spectacular bombings from al Qaeda. And he said that sometimes when -- you -- you start to -- he can see progress on the ground, but that can be overtaken by one spectacular bombing by al Qaeda in the major market that kills hundreds of people. This is not just killing of American troops. These are innocent men, women, and children of Iraq who are trying to go about their daily lives. The American troops are there to help try to protect them and to allow this new government to get the de-Baathification law finished and get the oil law finished. And we understand that it's very difficult for them. But we also -- I can assure you that the president is constantly in contact with Prime Minister Malaki pressuring him, pushing him, and showing him how to lead that country so that it can be one that can sustain, defend, and govern itself.
QUESTION: Dana, why isn't it working? I mean General Petraeus talks about the security situation is obvious. But what has to happen here is for the political track to kick in. It hasn't. How do you expect the American people to have patience with Malaki again? This is where we were last year.
PERINO: Well, I think if you listen to David Petraeus, it's not exactly where we were last year. And that he said the sectarian violence is down by --
QUESTION: Malaki has not made that much progress.
PERINO: There has been some progress. And granted, we recognize that there are so many issues, like those three that I just mentioned, the de-Baathification law and the oil law and the provisional, regional elections, provisional elections has not moved forward fully, It's not finalized. But there has been some progress in the steps forward. It is key. It is absolutely key. But I think that everyone should keep in mind, we have a fully functioning democracy that's been in place for 200 years. Our Congress, it took them five years to pass one energy bill.
QUESTION: The president told the American people and Mr. Malaki in January that the time for this to happen, the political progress will be now. What does that mean?
PERINO: They are starting to make some progress. The oil law is now --
QUESTION: What is now mean? What does it mean now?
PERINO: I think the way that I would look at it is the president has said we're going to try the surge to provide the -- to quell the violence there in Baghdad so that the government can have a little bit more time. And as I just told you, General Petraeus said there are just about two months into the surge and they don't have - he doesn't have all the troops there that he wants and it's going to take a while. And as I said yesterday, General Petraeus will provide an assessment towards the fall and that's when, I think that's how I would look at the time frame.
QUESTION: Can we also go to something you said this morning, which you said the comments of the administration have misconstrued the -- the (INAUDIBLE) appearance by the president four years ago? I don't know how they've misconstrued it. The president said major combat operations in Iraq have ended and the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed.
PERINO: And he specifically also said, and this is a quote, we still have difficult work to do in a dangerous country which needed to be rebuilt. He also said that the transition from dictatorship to democracy will take time. And he has also said - let me remind you what he said on January 10th...
QUESTION: ... operations are over. I don't even know why you're still arguing about that. I think
PERINO: What we were talking about then was the fighting of - we toppled the Iraqi government. We toppled the Iraqi army and that was a pretty quick succession of events. What the president then said and he said on January 10th, is that he acknowledged many times that the U.S. underestimated the insurgence and the foreign fighters' ability to foment sectarian violence and to, you know, perpetrate terrorist attacks and then he also said, where mistakes have been made the responsibility rests with me.
QUESTION: Why quibble over something like this?
LEMON: All right, Dana Perino responding to the Iraq war funding bill that was signed. The president said he is going to veto it and she says it was irresponsible, veto it right away and then he's going to work with congressional ...
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