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Commanders Working on Overhaul of War Plan in Iraq; Goodling Testimony; Slain Teller Remembered
Aired May 23, 2007 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Don Lemon, live at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Fredricka Whitfield, in for Kyra Phillips today.
A body in a river in Iraq, a sadly unremarkable occurrence with potentially major significance in the search for three American soldiers.
LEMON: Military forensic specialists are on the case, while back at the Pentagon, the whole U.S. war plan goes under the microscope again.
You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Confirmation at the Pentagon today that commanders are working on an overhaul of the war plan in Iraq. New sets of goals, military and political.
And CNN Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr has been watching it all for us. Barbara breaking the news to us just this last hour.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Don, U.S. officials are now, in fact, confirming that a new diplomatic and military strategy is being written for Iraq. There are several elements to it, but the major thing to tell people is General David Petraeus, the top military commander, and Ambassador Ryan Crocker will have this completed report in their hands by the end of the month, with the recommendations on how to proceed, and officials say the men will sign this report.
Officials familiar with this effort are confirming essential details to CNN. You know, they're calling this the "Joint Campaign Plan Redesign Team". A lot of bureaucratic words there, Don, but the bottom line is all of that means a new course in the war.
Some of the key elements described to CNN.
First, they're going to try and identify as a key effort here the reconcilables and the irreconcilables, as -- if you will. The people in Iraq that they feel they can do business with.
That may be some Sunni extremists, it may be some Shia militia groups, people that they feel they can bring into the fold. Those that they can't, a determined suicide bomber, for example, well, they will still have military forces to go after those people. But when they identify the ones that they feel they can do business with, then they will negotiate local power-sharing and cease-fire agreements, plus some economic aid.
Why are they doing all of this? The bottom line, the U.S. has come to the conclusion that it cannot maintain this elevated troop level in Iraq past the springtime.
As one official said, "We have been focused too long on defeating the enemy. We need to bring them to the negotiating table."
Don, once you get past all those words, what it really means here is an acknowledgement that this is more than just the traditional effort to try and capture or kill all of the insurgents. That's a traditional strategy. Now, much more of an acknowledgement that perhaps they're dealing with essentially a civil war.
They have to do business with these people, they have to bring them into the fold, use military force when and where they can. But the only way to get the troops home at some point is to try and do business with the people that they have long thought were their enemies -- Don.
LEMON: CNN's Barbara Starr.
Thank you, Barbara.
WHITFIELD: Well, the search for missing U.S. troops in Iraq goes on, but so do military efforts to identify a body found today in the Euphrates River, south of Baghdad. A U.S. military spokesman briefed reporters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAJ. GEN. WILLIAM CALDWELL, SPOKESMAN, MULTINATIONAL FORCE, IRAQ: Iraqi police did find the body of a man whom they believe may be one of our missing soldiers. We have received the body, and we will work diligently to determine if he is in fact one of our missing soldiers. We have not made any identification yet.
If appropriate, we will first notify the families of the results of that identification process. We are making every effort we can to ensure that the families of our soldiers are the first to receive accurate information. We all would expect, I believe, nothing less.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: And now this. The U.S. military reports nine more U.S. troops killed in roadside bombings in gun battles across Iraq. That raises this month's death toll for American forces to 81. The total number of U.S. service members killed in the war so far now stands at 3,423.
LEMON: President Bush unleashed some new ammunition today on critics of the Iraq war. In a commencement speech at the Coast Guard Academy, the president talked about intelligence reports on Osama bin Laden, al Qaeda, and Iraq that were declassified just 24 hours ago, including a 2003 plan to fly a hijacked plane into the Library Tower in L.A.
Now, the president says bin Laden wanted his top lieutenant in Afghanistan to organize a terrorist cell in Iraq, but coalition forces picked up the al Qaeda operative before that could happen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He was responsible for all al Qaeda's military operations against our coalition in that country.
Abdul Hadi al-Iraqi never made it to Iraq. He was captured last year. He was recently transferred to the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay.
There's a reason that bin Laden sent one of his most experienced paramilitary leaders to Iraq.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: The president also rejected language comparing Iraq to the Vietnam War. He says the enemy in Vietnam never intended to launch an attack on U.S. soil. He says the enemy in Iraq does.
WHITFIELD: A new red flag on Iranian nukes from the International Atomic Energy Agency. The U.N.'s nuclear oversight office confirms Iran has expanded its uranium enrichment program despite Security Council demands to scrap it.
The IAEA also says its acknowledgement of Tehran's program, and that it's deteriorated. The new findings are expected to trigger new sanctions.
The White House, meanwhile, is calling the report a laundry list of Iran's continued defiance.
Next hour, we'll get some reaction from CNN's Aneesh Raman, the only U.S.-based television reporter in Iran right now.
LEMON: In the waters of southwest Iran, a flotilla of U.S. warships is conducting unannounced naval exercises. Taking part, the Nimitz and John C. Stennis carrier groups, and the Bonhomme Richard strike group.
They're doing an air and sea maneuver there today in international waters in the Strait of Hormuz. About two-fifths of the world's oil shipments travel through that narrow passage. The war games come just days before the start of direct U.S. talks with Iran in Baghdad.
WHITFIELD: Monica Goodling had an important job. She was the Justice Department's liaison to the White House, but she says that she was not involved in drawing up a list of U.S. attorneys who would later be fired. Goodling is on Capitol Hill this afternoon testifying under oath. She admits politics sometimes played a role when new attorneys were hired.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MONICA GOODLING, FMR. JUSTICE DEPT. OFFICIAL: I do acknowledge that I may have gone too far in asking political questions of applicants for career positions. And I may have taken inappropriate political considerations into account on some occasions. And I regret those mistakes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Our Brianna Keilar is standing by in Washington with more on Monica Goodling's testimony.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And Fred, you know, that was really a whole separate issue, that Monica Goodling let politics influence some of her hiring decisions, which, of course, is illegal. But that's separate from the U.S. attorneys firings, which was the subject of today's hearing.
Goodling says she did give some opinions on the matter, but she had no input on the final list of the U.S. attorneys who were fired. So, if members of Congress were hoping that talking to the Justice Department's liaison to the White House would shed light on the White House's role in all of this, that has not been the case.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOODLING: I wish to clarify my role as White House liaison. Despite that title, I did not hold the keys to the kingdom, as some have suggested. I was not the primary White House contact for purposes of the development or approval of the U.S. attorney replacement plan.
I have never attended a meeting of the White House Judicial Selection Committee. The attorney general and Kyle Sampson attended those meetings.
To the best of my recollection, I've never had a conversation with Karl Rove or Harriet Miers while I served at the Department of Justice. And I'm certain that I never spoke to either of them about the hiring or firing of any U.S. attorney.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: But what she did say that was very interesting, strong allegations against Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty, Alberto Gonzales' number two. McNulty resigned earlier this month, and he testified before Congress in April.
He told them that the firings of the eight U.S. attorneys were performance-related. He also told lawmakers that Goodling didn't brief him properly.
Well, Goodling responded before Congress today, calling McNulty's testimony incomplete, inaccurate, and not fully candid. She said she briefed him and supplied him with information ahead of his testimony, some of which he failed to use.
McNulty is expected to have a comment later today -- Fred.
WHITFIELD: And so, Brianna, they've been on their lunch break. How much longer might this testimony of Goodling, at least, go?
KEILAR: Quite a while. This is going to continue after lunch, through the end of the business day. So she will be testifying for hours today.
WHITFIELD: All right. Brianna Keilar, thanks so much, from Washington.
LEMON: For Chicago police, it's not just a case of armed robbery. It's also a case of murder. We'll have the latest on the manhunt for a suspect or suspects in a deadly bank heist.
WHITFIELD: Plus, what are Delta and Dawn up to today? We'll bring you the very latest, including an I-Report that may be a good sign about the humpback calf's condition.
You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: A 23-year-old man working at a bank and going to college, all to support his young family. Tramaine Gibson was cut down yet by a bank robber's bullet.
We get the story now from reporter Juan Carlos Fanjul, of CNN affiliate WGN in Chicago.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VERTON GIBSON JR., TRAMAINE'S FATHER: It's a hurting feeling to get a call, and just like that your whole life is changed.
JUAN CARLOS FANJUL, REPORTER, WGN (voice over): Verton Gibson Jr. clutches a picture of his son Tramaine, his employee of the month picture from the bank where he was fatally shot doing the job he loved. One of three victims in the bullet-riddled south side bank heist, the 23-year-old bank teller rushed to Mt. Sinai Hospital, where he arrived with no pulse.
GIBSON: And he fought for about three or four hours, and eventually he succumbed to his injury. He was shot in the stomach.
FANJUL: The other two victims taken to Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn and survived. Seventy-year-old Dorothy Sanders, a customer who had just entered the bank, shot in the leg and chest. Her son says the retired schoolteacher ducked from flying bullets.
KEVIN MICHAEL SANDERS, MOTHER SHOT & WOUNDED: It happened really fast. When -- she may not have been aware when she was shot initially. She said she remembers hearing a boom, and then feeling a burning sensation. FANJUL: Also injured, the 48-year-old security guard who exchanged gunfire with the three robbers. Earl Coleman (ph) was shot in the chest after nearly a decade of working at the bank.
CHRISTINE LEE, BOYFRIEND SHOT & WOUNDED: We just sat yesterday and talked about "what if," and that "what if" came true today.
FANJUL: Gibson's distraught family says he was a Hills Franciscan (ph) graduate. Besides working as a teller, he was currently in college, trying to better his life and that of his young wife and two daughters, including 2-year-old Ashleigh (ph), who still doesn't know dad is dead.
VERTON GIBSON III, TRAMAINE'S BROTHER: I don't have a full grasp on it yet, you know. My little brother is gone. I mean, you know -- you know, the doctor said, you know, we couldn't bring him back. I'm still there.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: That report from Juan Carlos Fanjul from CNN affiliate from WGN.
Forensic teams are going over the robbers' getaway car. Police found it abandoned. A manhunt continues for the three suspects.
WHITFIELD: The U.S. says she's a scholar. Iran says she's a spy.
Straight ahead in the NEWSROOM, two diplomatically challenged nations, and a woman who is caught in the middle.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: It is 18 minutes after the hour. Here are three of the stories we're working on in the CNN NEWSROOM this hour.
(NEWSBREAK)
(BUSINESS REPORT)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Hello, everyone. I'm Don Lemon, live at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.
WHITFIELD: And I'm Fredricka Whitfield.
As gas prices skyrocket, you're probably seeing red yourself. But somebody is seeing green.
LEMON: Oh yes. When you fill up your car, exactly where does all that money go? Well, into your tank, right? We're chasing it down.
You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. WHITFIELD: Well, stop me if you've already heard this, but gas prices hit another record high today. Is it the oil -- I'm stopping -- I'm hearing people say stop -- sorry -- the markets, the retailers the refineries? No, no, no.
CNN's Tom Foreman takes a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Americans burned 385 million gallons of gas just today. At current prices, that's a billion and a quarter dollars' worth. But try to find one driver who can tell you why prices have risen so steeply.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know. It's confusing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't really have a good answer for that.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It seems a little outrageous that the prices are that high.
FOREMAN: High crude oil prices alone are not at fault. A year ago, crude was close to the price it is now, and a gallon of gas was under $3. Now it's around $3.20.
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The cost of distribution has remained roughly the same. Taxes have remained roughly the same. So the culprit has got to be refining. We're paying more to refine gas from oil than we've ever paid before.
FOREMAN: Oil industry analysts say some spectacular refinery fires have knocked out a few facilities and, more importantly, ever since hurricanes Katrina and Rita, maintenance crews have been struggling to keep refineries producing. So when the short supply from refineries hit the high demand of spring travelers, this is the result.
Some consumer advocates say the oil companies, with their record profits, should have seen this coming.
BRAD PROCTOR, GASPRICEWATCH.COM: Let's start taking some of those profits and pushing them into the refinery system so that we can be more efficient in terms of what we're able to convert. Because that's their job.
FOREMAN: No new refinery has been built in America in 30 years. The oil companies have always said that's because it's costly, difficult work, and so many communities and politicians don't want the projects in their neighborhoods. The companies could probably overcome that.
PROCTOR: But you know what? There's no incentive for them to do that because, again, the end result would just be cheaper product to the consumer out there.
FOREMAN (on camera): All of us as consumers bear some of the blame. We're driving as much as we ever have. And each time gas prices rise, we complain, but we fill up just the same.
(voice-over): And as long as that goes on, consumer advocates say keeping oil companies honest about their responsibility for refinery capacity will be difficult, even way down the road.
Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: So, how much are high gas prices costing you? An extra $20 billion so far this year, according to the Government Accountability Office. That averages out to about $146 for each passenger car in the U.S.
LEMON: All right. While we're on the subject of gasoline, yesterday we heard about yellow cabs going green. Today it's Brown's turn. UPS has expanded its fleet of alternative fuel vehicles, 50 hybrid electric delivery trucks are hitting the road in Atlanta, Dallas, Houston and Phoenix.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT HALL, UPS GROUND FLEET ENGINEERING: What we've done here with this hybrid electric technology is we have a small diesel engine that basically is supplemented by a battery pack, a motor generator and a power control system.
What the last three components actually do is they supplement the small diesel engine and add power to the power train. That's where we get our fuel economy and we lower emissions in this heavy stop-and-go application where we use our delivery vans.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: The 50 new hybrids are expected to save about 44,000 gallons of fuel a year. You can get more on oil and gas price trends on cnnmoney.com. Get in-depth analysis on what's happening and why, and find out what you can do. Go to cnnmoney.com.
WHITFIELD: The search for misting troops in Iraq goes on, but so do military efforts to identify a body found today in the Euphrates River south of Baghdad. A U.S. military spokesman briefed reporters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAJ. GEN. WILLIAM CALDWELL, SPOKESMAN, MULTI-NATL. FORCES IRAQ: Iraqi police did find the body of a man whom they believe may be one of our missing soldiers. We have received the body and we will work diligently to determine if he is in fact one of our missing soldiers. We have not made any identification yet.
If appropriate, we will first notify the families of the results of that identification process. We are making every effort we can to ensure that the families of our soldiers are the first to receive accurate information. We all would expect, I believe, nothing less.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: The military reports nine more U.S. troops killed in roadside bombings and gun battles across Iraq. That raises this month's death toll for American forces there to 81. The total number of U.S. service members killed in the war so far now assistants at 3,423.
LEMON: Not exactly a blank check, but not a ticket out of Iraq, either. Having seen their troop withdrawal timetable fall victim to a presidential veto, Democrats in Congress have given up on it for now. But the White House had to give a little too in a war funding compromise that could reach the president's desk by weekend. CNN's congressional correspondent Andrea Koppel takes a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Sensitive to criticism Democrats caved by dropping demands for a troop withdrawal timeline, a top House Democrat said President Bush won't be getting everything he wants, either.
REP. RAHMN EMANUEL, (D) CAUCUS CHAIRMAN: It ends the blank check on more troops, more money, more time and more of the same. It begins the notion that we have to have a new direction to Iraq.
KOPPEL: As part of a compromise, the two sides have mostly hammered out the new war funding bill would likely include political and economic benchmarks the Iraqi government would have to meet. If not, the U.S. would withhold much-needed Iraqi reconstruction aid. But Democratic leadership aides tell CNN the bill may also include a presidential waiver, which Mr. Bush could sign if he felt the aid was essential.
In addition, the bill would require the president to make at least 18 different reports to Congress on Iraqi progress before August. Without a timeline for U.S. troop withdrawal, Speaker Pelosi risks losing support from dozens of anti-war Democrats like New York's Gerald Nadler.
If it doesn't include a timeline, is there any way that you can support?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't think so.
KOPPEL: To make up the votes, a Democratic leadership aide tells CNN, "Democrats are confident that will get enough support from House Republicans to pass the bill," a sentiment echoed by Republicans in the Senate.
SEN. TRENT LOTT, (R) MISSISSIPPI: The president has indicated he thinks benchmarks can be beneficial, and for Congress to get reports about what's happening, shouldn't we be getting that anyway? And I think we will.
KOPPEL (on camera): The deal would also include a boost to the minimum wage for the first time in almost a decade, as well as about $20 billion in additional domestic spending. Democrats hope to get a bill to the president before the end of the week. Andrea Koppel, CNN, Capitol Hill.
(END OF VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: The U.S. says she's a scholar, Iran says she's a spy. Straight ahead in the NEWSROOM, two diplomatically challenged nations and a woman caught in the middle.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Held by Iran, four Iranian-Americans in separate incidents. Critics say the various accusations are a mishmash of bluster or maybe even paranoia. One of those held is a highly respected Middle East scholar, a 67-year-old woman who had gone to Iran to visit her mother. Here's CNN's Jill Dougherty with the story of Haleh Esfandiari.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Her husband describes it as a very difficult and anxious time. His wife, Haleh Esfandiari, a prominent Iranian-American scholar, held in a notorious Iranian prison, not allowed to communicate with him or see her lawyer. Now, he says, it's become even more frightening.
SHAUL BAKHASH, HUSBAND: I'm very concerned, because these accusations, not yet formal charges, are very serious, but they're vague, they're very general. If you look carefully at that statement, it's very hard to make out what exactly it is they're saying.
DOUGHERTY: That statement from Iran's intelligence ministry appeared Monday on an Iranian news agency Web site. It alleges that Esfandiari's employer, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, along with other U.S. institutions is trying to undermine Iran's national security. This U.S.-designed model, the ministry says, is aimed at soft overthrowing of the system.
The Woodrow Wilson Center's director former U.S. congressman Lee Hamilton has written to Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, urging him to release Esfandiari. He calls the charges outrageous.
LEE HAMILTON, WILSON INTL. CENTER FOR SCHOLARS: There is, of course, not a shred, not a scintilla of truth to the allegations against her. Iran is trying to turn a scholar into a spy.
DOUGHERTY: The 67-year-old Esfandiari flew to Iran in December to visit her 93-year-old mother. She was detained, interrogated, then arrested and imprisoned May 8th. The U.S. State Department is calling for her release and tells CNN Haleh Esfandiari is not a threat to this Iranian government or the regime as a whole. She is an academic and a voice for tolerance and people-to-people exchanges between the Iranian and American people.
We can't imagine why she is considered a threat. The only information about his wife now comes from the one-minute phone call she's allowed to make to her mother, who then calls Esfandiari's husband.
(on camera): He does not believe she's been physically abused, but he is concerned about the state of her mental health. The interrogation techniques in that Iranian prison, he says, can be brutal.
Jill Dougherty, CNN, Washington.
(END OF VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: All right, we want to get you live now to Orange County, California, specifically Westminster, California and Westminster High School. A high school there has been evacuated, now this is according to police at Westminster. California police department got a 911 call around 9:00 a.m. pacific, 12:00 eastern of a 14-year-old boy at Westminster High School, claiming to have explosives in his backpack. Officers responded to the school and there was a 30-minute standoff between police and the suspect.
As a matter of fact, let's get the very latest now from Lieutenant Bill Lewis, he joins us now by telephone, he's with the Westminster, California Police Department. Tell us what exactly happened lieutenant.
LT. BILL LEWIS, WESTMINSTER POLICE DEPARTMENT: About 9:00 this morning, we received a cell phone call into the 911 center, reporting that there was a student in a classroom with a backpack, threatening to blow up the room. Officers responded to that call. We had about a 30-minute standoff with the student refusing to come out of the room and let anyone else out of the room.
Eventually the students were allowed to leave the room, the teacher left the room and our 14- year-old suspect came out of the room. He was taken into custody, the backpack remains in the room and is currently in the process of being checked by the Orange County bomb squad. The school was evacuated, probably about 2,400 students, they were evacuated to a local city park. As soon as we get an all-clear, they'll try to resume the school day.
LEMON: We're looking at live pictures now of that park which I think is very near the school where students are sort of milling about there. But again you said this happened at 9:00 pacific time there. He refused to surrender and he remained for a while, lieutenant, am I correct, in the classroom with other students and their teacher? This must have been a very tense time.
LEWIS: Yeah, for that period of time, it was. We started putting all of the emergency services in place. Fortunately the standoff portion of it ended rather quickly, and we got the school evacuated, and everything is kind of stable. Now we're just waiting for the bomb squad to give us the all-clear.
LEMON: So you have the Orange County bomb squad on the scene now and they're looking at it. Any idea from the student, I don't know if you've spoken to him, why he would do this? It's getting close to the end of the year. Things like this happen sometimes as a prank, unfortunately, when kids want to get out of school, especially when the weather gets good. Did he give you any indication or anyone why he did this?
LEWIS: At this point we don't know what the motivation was for it. It could have been any of those things that you mentioned at this point.
LEMON: OK, Lieutenant Bill Lewis, thank you for joining us. And of course we're going to continue to follow this developing story, the Orange County bomb squad on the scene there of a school in Westminster, California, Orange County, school of about 2,400 students evacuated. You see them there milling about in the park until they can get back into class, because it's still school time in California. They're on Pacific Time. We're going to continue to follow this story.
WHITFIELD: And straight ahead, we want to tell you about a complaint that's heard all across California's farmlands.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're really, really behind the eight ball right now because we're so short of workers.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Harvest help wanted. Straight ahead in the NEWSROOM.
BROOKE ANDERSON, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: I'm Brooke Anderson in Hollywood. Straight ahead I'm going to tell you who was victorious on "Dancing with the Stars", get you ready for the "American Idol" finale and show you what may be Rosie O'Donnell's most controversial moment ever. All that next in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: So near, yet so far. Two humpback whales, nicknamed Delta and Dawn are still swimming in circles in the Sacramento River about 70 miles from the open waters of the Pacific. They're surrounded by boats filled with scientists trying everything they can think of to help the whales make their way back to sea.
Biologists are getting more worried however by the hour. They say wounds the whales suffered when they apparently were hit by a boat's propeller, have worsened, and a CNN i-Reporter captured this pretty cool video. Doesn't he look happy? They believe that is the tail of the calf, and that this went out for about 20 minutes.
I-reporter Ed Truthan shot the video and says it was a thrill watching this go on for about 20 minutes yesterday. Some researches say tail slapping could be associated with feeding.
LEMON: That is a cool i-Report. Can we play that one back, yes, no, do we have more? I love that i-Report. That was a pretty ...
WHITFIELD: Maybe we'll bring it back. LEMON: There we go.
WHITFIELD: Hey, there it is.
LEMON: Hey, look at that. Everybody likes the whales. Oh, now he stopped.
WHITFIELD: Yeah, if only that slapping would take place as they traverse or swim their way 70 miles out to sea because that's where they really need to be.
LEMON: Delta, Dawn, c'mon, guys, we're rooting for you. Get your acts together and get out there.
OK, two of the biggest reality TV shows are wrapping up their seasons, and CNN's Entertainment Correspondent Brooke Anderson is here to tell us who is going to win "American Idol"? Wait a minute. Did I read that right? You're going to tell us who's going to win "American Idol?"
ANDERSON: I can tell you who the judges think should win Don. And you know I predict Jordin.
LEMON: But didn't she get kicked off a couple nights ago, the one who is supposed to win.
ANDERSON: Melinda got kicked off. I thought she had pipe, she was my favorite, but you know Melinda is out of there. It just proves "American Idol" is unpredictable, and now Don I actually predict Jordin is going to take it home. But "Idol" does wrap up tonight in a two hour finale. Finalist Jordin Sparks and Blake Lewis performed last night, two hours, for the judges. And tonight it will be revealed how the public voted.
Blake is seen as the better performer, he's got impressive beat- boxing skills if you haven't seen him. But Jordin is viewed as the more talented singer. After the performances, the judges gave her the nod, but you know they don't get a vote as to who will win unless they call in like everybody else has to do. One thing we do know is that the show, while it is still the most watched show on television, it has lost more than 3 million viewers compared to "Idol" last year.
LEMON: Yeah, but when you have a gazillion viewers, I mean 3 million, that's just a drop in the bucket.
ANDERSON: What's 3 million?
LEMON: Does this remind you of anything? We're going to tell you who's going to win "American Idol" -- after the break.
ANDERSON: That's right. Thank you, Ryan Seacrest.
LEMON: I don't know, Ryan with a tan, maybe. All right, it seems like -- you know, it kind of looks like there weren't any breakout stars from this year's show like there have been in the past. Why have some people been tuning out? ANDERSON: Have you already forgotten Sanjaya? His 15 minutes over quick with you, ah Don? You know he was a breakout ...
WHITFIELD: You loved him Don. Every day Don was talking about Sanjaya, Sanjaya, Sanjaya.
ANDERSON: Talking about Sanjaya. But we don't know if Sanjaya has staying power. That's the thing. You don't know if he has staying power and for sure, you know, each season, it's a different cast of characters. It's all about popularity. It's a popularity contest, and also "Idol" on Tuesday nights has that formidable competition in "Dancing with the Stars."
You know the finale of "Dancing" the second rated show on television aired last night. And one report has more people watching Apolo Anton Ono dance his way to victory than watching "Idol." The two-time Olympic champion speed skater Ono and his partner Julianne beat out former NSYNC star Joey Fatone and the female boxing champion Laila Ali to become the show's fourth winner. Now, despite having won two gold medals, Ono was still pretty excited about this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
APOLO ONO, DANCING WITH THE STARS: Winning the competition was like over the top, so much icing on the cake, on my birthday.
JULIANNE: Nice birthday present.
ONO: Which is crazy.
JULIANNE: Literally icing on the cake.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Yeah, nice birthday present for sure. And the strong ratings, Don and Fred, probably a nice present for ABC.
WHITFIELD: Yeah, he had my vote.
LEMON: All the air went out for me after what's her name didn't come on, after she lost.
WHITFIELD: Who?
ANDERSON: Who, Laila?
LEMON: No, McCartney -- Heather Mills.
ANDERSON: Heather Mills-McCartney. She did really well.
WHITFIELD: She did.
LEMON: She did, but I was waiting for the thing, you know, because -- well, she talked about it, I mean come on.
WHITFIELD: Honesty or what? ANDERSON: She was worried about that, but she was a strong competitor.
WHITFIELD: I think the right person won.
ANDERSON: I do too.
LEMON: Well, the daytime ratings, let's talk about that, she's a ratings queen. Oprah Winfrey, I like to call her home girl, you know, coming from Chicago. It looks like there's some issues in the Winfrey family maybe?
ANDERSON: It seems that way. Yesterday the story broke that Oprah's father Vernon is going to write a book about his daughter. Bad enough he's writing a tell all but a spokesperson for Oprah's company Harpo tells us that Oprah didn't know anything about the book until she was contacted by the "New York Daily News" so we're told that the stunned Oprah confronted her father and he admitted that yes he was working on the book. But then today this story has taken another twist. A report surfaced that Vernon denied he was working on that book. So when we contacted Papa Winfrey, he told us, no comment.
By the way, the title of this potential book is reported to be "Things Unspoken." And for a last little tidbit here, nothing was left unspoken on "The View" today. Things really boiled over on the morning chat fest between host Rosie O'Donnell and Elisabeth Hasselbeck. The always contentious co-host went back and forth for almost seven minutes. Here's a sample.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ELISABETH HASSELBECK: You are an adult, and I am certainly not going to be the person for you to explain your thoughts. They're your thoughts, defend your own insinuations.
ROSIE O'DONNELL: I defend my thoughts.
HASSELBECK: Defend your own thoughts.
O'DONNELL: Every time I defend them Elisabeth, its poor little Elisabeth that I'm picking on.
HASSELBECK: You know what, poor little Elisabeth is not poor little Elisabeth, OK.
O'DONNELL: That's right, that's why I'm not going to fight with you anymore because it's absurd. So for three weeks you can say all the Republican crap you want. I'm not going to do it.
HASSELBECK: It's a little easier to fight someone like Donald Trump, isn't it?
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: And we're going to have more on this story tonight on "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT." As the explosive showdown turned into a meltdown on "The View" it may have been Rosie O'Donnell's most controversial moment ever. You're going to want to watch this. The inside story on TV's most provocative entertainment news show. We're on at 11:00 p.m. eastern and pacific, "Headline Prime." Don, Fred?
WHITFIELD: Ow, the talons were out. Ow!
LEMON: Ooh, that was scary. Why are they getting rid of her? That's all the life and energy in that show. I mean I would watch that, wouldn't you?
ANDERSON: People watch, and it was more heated than ever, you saw it. It was a shouting match.
LEMON: Regardless of what you think about what she says, it's good TV when they go back and forth like that.
WHITFIELD: Well we're going to have to watch your show to figure out what preceded that blowout because I still don't know what really was at issue there.
LEMON: And good TV also, "Headline Prime" tonight at 11:00. The most provocative entertainment show on television.
ANDERSON: Watch us tonight and we'll tell you what happened.
WHITFIELD: OK, we'll be tuning in, thanks a lot, Brooke.
LEMON: Thanks a lot Brooke.
WHITFIELD: All right, hey, golfers out there, what are the odds of making a hole in one? Well, now, what are the odds of making 11 holes in one in four months? This woman makes it look easy straight ahead in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Um-hmm. Imagine if that was your car.
WHITFIELD: Ouch.
LEMON: I know. This Kansas highway was pounded late yesterday, along with probably some cars. It was in the northwest part of the state. Some storms produced hail the size of tennis balls, and where there are severe storms, you often see this. Check it out. That is a funnel cloud, and it's dropping from the sky. A storm chaser spotted this one in Graham County. No one was hurt, and damage was only minor there. That was very lucky for them, Jacqui Jeras. What's going on today? Is it a repeat of yesterday for those folks?
(WEATHER REPORT)
WHITFIELD: How about this? It's an amazing feat. A hole in one, everyone agrees on that one. So be prepared to be amazed as you watch this. A news crew captures Jacqueline Gagne in Palm Springs, California, sinking her 11th hole in one. Not amazing enough, well she's made them all in just the last four months. And she was pretty thrilled about this one too.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JACQUELINE GAGNE, GOLFING ACE: There it is. See, it does happen and you're the first to get it on tape.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: She is sharp. A college statistician did the math on the odds and they're astronomical, something like 12 ...
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