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American Morning
Senator Sex Scandal; Replacing Gonzales: Who Will President Bush Choose?; Statin Bonus: Do They Fight Alzheimer's?
Aired August 28, 2007 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning. Welcome back. Thanks for joining us. Lots to talk about today.
It's Tuesday, the 28th of August. I'm John Roberts.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Hi there, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins. Kiran Chetry is off.
ROBERTS: Good to see you. Thanks for joining us this morning.
COLLINS: Thank you.
ROBERTS: Questions about the future of Republican Senator Larry Craig this morning over his arrest and guilty plea for alleged lewd conduct in an airport bathroom.
Congressional Correspondent Jessica Yellin is on Capitol Hill. She joins us now live.
What's the latest on this today, Jessica?
JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, this morning, U.S. Senator Larry Craig is acknowledging that he did plead guilty to a disorderly conduct charge. Now, "Roll Call" newspaper says it all stems from an incident at the Minneapolis airport bathroom. And according to "Roll Call," an arresting officer says that he was in a stall next to the senator, next to Senator Larry Craig, and the senator allegedly made hand and foot gestures that, according to the officer, indicated he wanted to engage in lewd conduct.
Now, Senator Craig, we've confirmed, has pled guilty to a disorderly conduct charge, paid more than a $500 fine and got a 10-day sentence that has been stayed. He released this statement to the media saying that, "At the time of this incident, I complained to the police that they were misconstruing my actions. I was not involved in any inappropriate conduct."
He as also said he made a mistake because he pled guilty without an attorney present. He is now with his wife and kids on vacation in Idaho, we're told, and he has resigned from a position with the Mitt Romney presidential campaign -- John.
ROBERTS: You know, Jessica, we talked with the correspondent from "Roll Call" that broke the story who said that Craig actually had two months to think about this, that the incident took place in June. He pled in August. But this is not the first time that allegations of homosexuality have been leveled at the senator, right?
YELLIN: No, it's not. There have been various allegations of various natures over the course of his career. He served in the U.S. Congress for more than 25 years, but at various points he has denied all of those allegations, just like he is saying this one is a misunderstanding.
ROBERTS: All right. Jessica Yellin for us on Capitol Hill this morning.
Jessica, thanks -- Heidi.
COLLINS: With Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on his way out, lots of speculation about who President Bush will nominate to replace him.
White House Correspondent Ed Henry is traveling with the president in Reno, Nevada.
OK, so tell us, Ed, who is it going to be?
ED HENRY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Heidi.
As you noted, the president's here in Reno. That's because he is supposed to be giving a speech to the American Legion, setting up the nation for that progress report on Iraq next month. And this is a president with a lot to get done, but the clock is ticking on his time in office, and that is why he accepted this resignation, however reluctantly.
After months of really digging in and insisting that Alberto Gonzales could still be effective, Mr. Bush finally acknowledged yesterday that this controversy had been a distraction. And he bowed to the political reality, but not without one final blast at the critics who pushed out his close friend.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's sad that we live in a time when a talented and honorable person like Alberto Gonzales is impeding from doing important work because his good name was dragged through the mud for political reasons.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HENRY: So, the president now tries to turn the page on all of this, move on to other issues, but he does it with a relatively new team. But mostly all of his Texas friends from Dan Bartlett to Karl Rove, now Alberto Gonzales, all gone -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Yes, that's true.
Ed, you know, I don't want to have you be speculating too much here. I know it's a tough position to put you in, but we have heard so many names. Obviously, Michael Chertoff the first one that we heard.
HENRY: That's right.
COLLINS: By the time that the day was through yesterday, Larry Thompson, several others. How long before we actually have a name typically in this type of situation?
HENRY: Well, you're right, Michael Chertoff's stock was high yesterday. As the day wore on it started going down a bit, in part because it would mean two confirmation battles, one to replace him as homeland security secretary. Also, the White House getting some static from senators privately already about the fact that Chertoff oversaw the action of Hurricane Katrina.
You have Christopher Cox. He's the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission. He served in the Reagan White House. That might please conservatives. But also served in Congress, so he could potentially reach out to Democrats.
George Terwilliger, he was the deputy attorney general for Bush 41. Some people privately are saying the asset there could be -- it almost could be like Robert Gates at the Pentagon coming in and turning the page, sort of a gray beard.
Finally, you mentioned Larry Thompson, former deputy attorney general under Ashcroft. Also would be the first black attorney general. But the problem for the White House, the challenge, if you will, is that he has a very lucrative job with PepsiCo. It's going to be hard to lure him out of the private sector -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Possibly a conflict there. All right. Thanks so much, Ed Henry, traveling with the president this morning from Reno, Nevada.
ROBERTS: Approaching five minutes after the hour, and it's not over yet for the folks in the Midwest. More rain, more evacuations. Tragically, more deaths in the wake of extreme weather there.
Strong storms once again soaked parts of Wisconsin last night. One man was killed by lightning.
Helicopters are saving people from fires in southern Greece. At least 63 have been killed as forest fires burn across half of the entire country. Crews say close to a dozen people in one region may have no way out.
And we've been watching a sight in the skies this morning. A total eclipse of the moon this morning, it's happening right now and it's visible across North and South America, parts of the Asia and the Pacific. But as the light starts to come up, though, it's getting a little more difficult to see in some of those areas -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Other headlines new this morning now.
Authorities in Washington, D.C., are raising a red flag after another shutdown of a subway system. Small fires and heavy smoke closed metro stations in northern Virginia last night for the second straight day. It's possible electrical surges are to blame, but inspectors are also looking at the possibility someone is intentionally targeting the tracks.
We'll watch that story for you.
Also new this morning, another push to boost support for the Iraq war. During a fund-raiser for Congressman Dave Reichert in Washington State, President Bush said America must stay on the offense overseas and keep the enemy from coming here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BUSH: We face an enemy that is ideologically bent, determined to achieve their objectives and murder the innocent. They are not religious people. They may have hijacked religion, but they're not religious.
I don't believe you murder innocent people to achieve political objectives and be a religious person. I just don't believe that. As a matter of fact, I believe that's the definition of evil, and I think the United States must do everything we can to prevent them from harming us and others again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Today is expected to be a day of protest across the country during events sponsored by liberal antiwar groups like MoveOn.org.
ROBERTS: Well, we will not be hearing from Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick this morning. He was scheduled to appear on a morning radio show, "The Tom Joyner Show," maybe even take some calls from listeners, but we learned about an hour ago that he backed out of that at the last minute.
Last night, protesters for and against Vick had their chance to speak out, facing off outside of the Falcons' pre-season home opener. The Falcons are going after the $22 million in bonuses paid to Vick. The team hasn't decided if they'll cut Vick yet. There's no shortage of opinions though on what should happen next.
Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEPHEN A. SMITH, COLUMNIST, ESPN: He broke the law. He knew that he was braking the law.
He lied to the Atlanta Falcons. He lied to his teammates. He lied to the commissioner, Roger Goodell. He lied to everybody. He openly admitted that.
My heart goes out to his family, there's no question about that, but when you do all of those things, you do the crime, you've got to do the time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: He was very contrite yesterday though.
Vick could get up to five years in prison when he is sentenced on December the 10th. By the way, the Falcons won last night's game with Joey Harrington replacing Vick in the lineup. They beat the Cincinnati Bengals 24-19 -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Time now to check in with our AMERICAN MORNING team of correspondents for other stories that are new this morning.
A slew of arrests in a controversial case in Russia. One of the international stories that CNN's Monita Rajpal is covering for us in London today.
Good morning to you, Monita.
MONITA RAJPAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi.
Some answers, but more questions coming out of Moscow this Tuesday morning. Ten people have been arrested in connection to the murder of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya. The suspects include a Chechen crime boss, as well as law enforcement officers.
Russia's chief prosecutor says the killing of Politkovskaya was designed to discredit the government of Vladimir Putin. Anna Politkovskaya, a critic, a fierce critic of the Kremlin, was gunned down at her apartment last October. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, she is the 13th Russian journalist to be murdered since Putin took power -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Monita Rajpal for us this morning.
Monita, nice to see you. Thanks so much.
Want to move on now to Rob Marciano. He is tracking the wildfires for us in Ketchum, Idaho, joining us now live.
Rob, what's the latest from the situation there?
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, good morning, Heidi.
They did make a little bit of progress yesterday. Forty-four percent containment. That's the good news. The bad news is they still have 38 miles of fire line to cut into this rugged terrain here in the Sawtooth mountain range.
Forty-two thousand acres have burned so far. They are fighting this fire from the air, as you would imagine. Fixed-wing aircraft the past couple of days have not been allowed up, so they have been fighting it with those helicopters, obviously engines. Also over 100 engines, and over 800 crewmen and women on the fire lines working around the clock to do all of the dirty work to try to build this fire line around this blaze.
The other thing that's helping them out, for the first time in wildfire history, as far as we know, snow-making guns being used on this resort to battle back the flames. The flames came within 100 feet of a multimillion-dollar lot at the top of Bald Mountain a couple of days ago and they managed to beat back the flames there.
Weather also cooperating a little bit. There's still some winds blowing towards town. That's an issue.
If those winds pick up, then things could get hairy. Relative humidity levels typical this time of year to be pretty low. They don't expect those to improve for a couple of days.
So, hopefully the winds will stay low today and they'll continue to get some more containment around this fire, Heidi. But as you know, you never know what those winds will do, especially in the midst of a big fire like this one.
Back up to you.
COLLINS: Yes, no question about that. Creative firefighting, though. If you got them, use them, I guess. Snow-making machines, interesting.
MARCIANO: Yes.
COLLINS: All right. Rob Marciano live with the latest situation from Ketchum, Idaho, this morning -- John.
ROBERTS: Heidi, thanks.
Score another win for statins. You take them to help your heart. Now there is word that they can help your brain. Guess who needs some statins this morning?
Our resident brain surgeon, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, is in Atlanta now with the result of this new study.
What are we talking about here, Sanjay?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John.
Well, we're talking about the fact that statins have been used for a long time to treat heart disease, as you know. And while no one is quite ready to prescribe them to try to fight off dementia or Alzheimer's dementia, there is some interesting new research looking specifically what statins do to the brain.
Now, what we're talking about is trying to fend off some of these tangles and plaques that are associated with Alzheimer's. This has been a sort of longer-term study actually looking at the brains of people who had Alzheimer's disease, trying to figure out if they also took statins, whether they may have a lower concentration of these memory-robbing plaques and tangles.
Take a look at the animation here. Those are all the neurons that sort of communicate back and forth within the brain. Within those neurons, you actually have that sort of coating that develops these plaques and these tangles, and for a long time it's been a question of how to try and reduce the amount of those plaques and tangles. Statins appear to do so.
What is harder to say, John -- this is an important point -- is whether that actually translates into less dementia. It's unclear. We know that there's less plaques and tangles, and that should mean less dementia, but this is what is called a pathological study, so just looking at the brains themselves. More research is going to need to be done there.
ROBERTS: What is it about the statins, Sanjay, that may reduce the incidents and formation of these plaques and tangles?
GUPTA: Well, that's a good question. We're not entirely sure why Alzheimer's disease develops in the first place.
We do know that statins do a couple of things. They reduce your cholesterol, specifically what's known as your bad cholesterol, or LDL, and they also seem to modulate or decrease the amount of inflammation in the body.
There's a lot of research now showing that Alzheimer's may actually be caused by lots of inflammation in the body, so it may be cutting off that pathway somehow. Unclear, though, exactly why.
ROBERTS: Hey, Sanjay, you said that we're not ready to start prescribing statins for dementia or at least to prevent dementia. When might that happen?
GUPTA: Well, you know, this was a very early study, and it wasn't a randomized study either, meaning that they didn't give certain people statins and other people not statins. So, it's very hard to sort of extrapolate from this.
I think it's going to be quite a while still, although we do know that statins have a lot of other uses, especially with regard to heart disease and inflammation specifically. I would say at least years down the road still before we can say conclusively or will be possibly able to say conclusively that there's a link between statins and decreased Alzheimer's.
ROBERTS: Well, at the very least, perhaps a side benefit for people already taking the drugs.
GUPTA: Exactly.
ROBERTS: Sanjay Gupta, thanks very much.
GUPTA: Thank you.
COLLINS: And real quickly, Sanjay is going to be back with more on the next study, too. America getting bigger.
Obesity rates now up in 31 states. Not one state showed a decline. In fact, Mississippi tops the list of the fattest state in the nation and is the first state where more than 30 percent of adults are considered obese. Colorado is the leanest.
We'll tell you all about it coming up shortly.
Meanwhile, Owen Wilson is reportedly in good condition, but what happened to the actor is anyone's guess. The 38-year-old star is still at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in L.A. He has released a statement asking that he be allowed to heal in private. On Sunday, Wilson was taken from his Santa Monica home by ambulance.
And some troubling news out of the FAA this morning. An order going out to inspect all 737s after concerns a loose bolt could punch a hole in fuel tanks.
We're going to be talking to a former FAA investigator to find out what you need to know.
It's all ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
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COLLINS: Welcome back, everybody, to the most news in the morning. "Quick Hits" now.
The Gulf Coast getting ready to mark the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. That will be tomorrow. Some events are already happening, like this candlelight vigil on the levee of Lake Pontchartrain in New Orleans.
New pictures coming in of a deadly tornado in the small town of Northwood, North Dakota. One person killed, 18 others hurt. North Dakota's governor has declared a state of emergency and ordered the National Guard to help in the cleanup.
And new details on a freak accident at a Shriners parade that left eight people hurt in Tennessee. Yes, we've seen this before. This happened in Chattanooga over the weekend. Police now say two Shriners' buggies were circling each other when they collided head-on, hurling one of them into onlookers.
ROBERTS: Goodness.
Airlines are being ordered this morning to inspect all 737s over concerns that a loose bolt on the wing could punch a hole in the fuel tank. The order stems from this dramatic fire on a China Airlines 737 last week in Japan.
Seven hundred and eighty-three planes are affected here in the United States. That number could grow to 2,300 worldwide.
Michael Goldfarb is a former investigator for the FAA. He joins us now live this morning from our Washington bureau.
Michael, what exactly happened on that 737 to cause that explosion and fire, and how has that resulted in this alert to inspect all of these 737s? MICHAEL GOLDFARB, FORMER FAA CHIEF OF STAFF: Well, John, it's about as bad as it gets in aviation. That crash was nothing short of catastrophic. It's amazing no one was killed. But they're treating that crash as if the highest level of alert is in place.
These bolts are on two sides of the wings. The front leading edge has the slats, and the flaps are on the back, and they stabilize the aircraft at takeoff and landing, so they're vital to flight.
What happened here, apparently, is that several bolts got loose, created a hole in the fuel tank, which led to a subsequent fire. Quite different from the TWA 800, where we had a fuel tank explosion, but nonetheless, as significant.
ROBERTS: Right. So, those wing slats are hydraulically powered. So, if you've got a loose bolt and it's kind of hanging there, and the hydraulics put the slats -- they deploy the slats, it really just gouges a hole in that few tank, doesn't it?
GOLDFARB: It does. And, you know, there's four levels of concern on this. And we're at almost the highest level.
The FAA issued an emergency air worthiness directive. That is lingo for, get it fixed now. All those planes worldwide, bring them in as soon as possible.
The next step would be a grounding of the aircraft themselves if they felt there was that level of safety concern. So, they believe they have it under control, but it is important to note that Boeing itself found in December of '05 several of these 737s, and they're a wonderful aircraft, they're the workhorse of the fleet. Several of them had bolts that were loose and issued a service bulletin like you would on taking your car in, but not a high level of alarm.
So, we're seeing the level of concern increase. And this is a very bold action and one that should make people feel a lot safer about flying these aircraft.
ROBERTS: Well, what about in the interim, though, Michael?
GOLDFARB: It's always the question.
ROBERTS: Yes. If this is so urgent, should people try to avoid flying in 737s?
GOLDFARB: Yes. I mean, there's so many -- you know, crashes are so rare, thankfully. There's so many things that come together to make it a unique event when a plane crashes. There's so many layers of safety that this alone, no, John.
I think that when they say 24 days, that certainly doesn't fly -- we're going to wait until day 23 to comply. I mean, those planes this morning, at the places where they are being maintained, will be checked. And that's the end point of having that entire fleet hopefully certified to fly safely.
ROBERTS: So people should still have confidence to fly in a 737 then?
GOLDFARB: I sure would, yes.
ROBERTS: All right.
Michael Goldfarb, former FAA chief of staff.
Thanks for your tips this morning. Appreciate your expertise.
GOLDFARB: My pleasure. Yes.
ROBERTS: Heidi.
COLLINS: New gear for the New York Police Department tops your "Quick Hits" this morning.
The NYPD replacing more than 20,000 gas masks that were found to be too fragile and easily crushed. The masks are standard equipment, of course. Officers carry them on their hips in case of a terrorist attack.
And a new study shows workers who responded to the collapse police department tops your quick hits this morning. The nypd replacing more than 20,000 gas masks that were found to be too fragile and easily crushed. The masks are standard equipment, of course. Officers carry them on their hips in case of a terrorist attack.
New study shows workers who responded to the collapse of the World Trade Center face serious respiratory problems. The New York Health Department found workers who helped clear the toxic debris are 12 times more likely to develop asthma.
And the housing market takes one of its biggest hits in nearly two decades. So could things get worse before they get better?
Sure hope not, but we're going to take a look at it next for you right here on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Welcome back to the most news in the morning.
"Quick Hits" now.
Some more pictures. The second lunar eclipse of the year happening right now. Hard to see, though, of course, as the sky gets brighter on the East Coast. But if you were up early enough, you could see the moon disappear in the Earth's shadow.
Remember when you did that in sixth grade? It was cool.
High water roaring through Las Vegas. Emergency crews rushed to save drivers who were caught in flooded intersections. Lightning strikes also sparked fires on roofs and knocked out power to about 5,000 people there.
And taking bids on 755 and 756. What's that? Well, auctions begin today on two historic Barry Bonds homerun balls.
Experts say the one that broke Hank Aaron's 33-year-old record could bring in at least $500,000. You can bid on it if you want to at cpauctions.com.
I'm sure you're in.
ROBERTS: No.
Twenty-four minutes after the hour. Ali Velshi here "Minding Your Business".
An awful lot of homes for sale these days.
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Unless you've been sort of hiding under a rock, you know that home prices are down. And we just keep gathering evidence of how that is the case. Now, it only really matters in your area, but let me give you some national averages.
The median price of a home in the United States is now down to about $228,000. It actually hit its high last July, well into when this housing problem had started.
Now, let me just tell you what the problem is right now. We've got a housing glut. We have more homes for sale than we've had in the last 16 years, and you don't have to be a mathematician to figure this one out.
If there is more homes for sale, that means it's a buyer's market and prices are going to be lower. And we have seen prices decline every month for the last 12 months. July was no exception. So, in July, we have a lower home price, average price. We have home sales down once again, and for those of you buying, lots out there.
For those of you selling, if you can hang on and not sell, it might be better.
COLLINS: Yes. See, but that's usually the case, obviously. If you're getting ready to buy a house, usually, unless you're a first- time home buyer, you have one to sell. So it's like six of one...
VELSHI: Right. If you're in the same market, it tends to be a wash. It's not a bad deal if you're buying and selling in the same market, because your home is probably lower value but the one you're buying is a lower value.
The big problem is when you're moving from a place where the values have decreased to a place like New York or San Francisco, where the prices are still very high. So, you know, this is one of those things. Everybody predicts this will be over by the end of next year, maybe into the beginning of 2009, but that's a long time if you've got plans right now.
ROBERTS: Yes, definitely.
Ali Velshi, thanks very much. We'll look at a story coming up in our next half hour that you just can't miss. We're dishing the dirt on antibacterial soaps.
COLLINS: That was good, dishing the dirt. I like that.
Do they do a better job at keeping us healthy, especially as we head into the flu season? Yes, it's right around the corner.
We're going to talk with Dr. Sanjay Gupta about that.
More coming your way on AMERICAN MORNING.
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COLLINS: Good morning, everybody. It's Tuesday, August 28th.
I'm Heidi Collins. Kiran Chetry is off today.
ROBERTS: Good to see you this morning. Thanks for pitching in.
COLLINS: Thank you very much. I'm glad to be here.
ROBERTS: I'm John Roberts.
New this morning, the arrest and guilty plea of Idaho Senator Larry Craig out in the open today. The newspaper "Roll Call" got hold of a police report from Craig's arrest back in June in the men's room at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport. It says that Craig made sexual advances toward an undercover police officer.
Two months later, Craig pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor and paid a $500 fine. But now he says he regrets the plea.
Senator Craig released a statement saying, "At the time of the incident, I complained to the police that they were misconstruing my actions. I was not involved in any inappropriate conduct."
Craig is up for reelection next year. He was also the Senate liaison to the Mitt Romney campaign. Romney officials last night announced that Craig is no longer working for them.
A miner collision at Los Angeles International Airport. Officials say two Alaska Air jets bumped each other while one was pulling out of the gate. No one was hurt but both planes were damaged.
One was full of passengers. They were taken off the plane and rebooked on another flight. The other plane was empty. FAA investigating that.
And a huge drug haul in Chicago to tell you about. Federal officials found 20 kilos of cocaine, about 44 pounds, inside baggage at O'Hare airport.
(NEWSBREAK)
COLLINS: We've been telling you about the case against Republican Senator Larry Craig of Idaho. He pleaded guilty to lewd conduct after a sting in the men's room at the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport.
CNN's senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin is joining us now to discuss this and a couple of other topics.
All right, so let's begin with this breaking news on Senator Craig. We know that he pleaded guilty, but, Jeff, it seems like he sort of said it's a mistake. Is he confused by the system?
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SR. LEGAL ANALYST: You know, Heidi, people are going to believe what they want to believe, but as far as I can tell, this is the single most ridiculous explanation for a legal proceeding I've ever heard. Here you have a United States senator, who has been dogged for decades by rumors that he's gay, and he's arrested for soliciting a man, doesn't consult a lawyer, pleads guilty. Now says it's a mistake? I just find his actions totally incomprehensible.
COLLINS: It's totally bizarre. What would his next step even be? I mean, does he have any where to go from here?
TOOBIN: I think there's a very clear next step for him, which is to announce when he is up for re-election in 2008, he's not going to run. I mean, he's talked about not running even before this story broke. I don't see how in Idaho or any other state you can defend this kind of conduct.
COLLINS: OK. We will obviously continue to follow that one.
TOOBIN: Another story that we have been following now, of course, since yesterday. We broke the news here that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales resigned. A lot of speculation, Jeff, about who is going to take over for him.
Walk us through the process, if you would, and what will happen as the White House considers a replacement.
TOOBIN: Well, President Bush has a decision to make as a sort of a general matter, which is does he want to have someone who is close to him, who is a true believer, who is part of is inner circle, but who will generate a fight with Congress? President Bush's usual M.O. has been to be a hardcore committed conservative and pick a confrontation with Congress. That kind of selection might result perhaps in someone like Michael Chertoff who is a very distinguished lawyer, very loyal Bush appointee, but also the supervisor of the response to Hurricane Katrina and someone who would really probably cause a stir in Congress.
Other less confrontational choices suggest Larry Thompson, the former deputy attorney general, who is now the general counsel of Pepsico, or Ted Olson, former solicitor general, the man who argued Bush v. Gore. Those are kind of choices that would probably sail through Congress, but you know, President Bush is a fighter and he may not choose that route.
COLLINS: All right, got to get to Vick. You were in Richmond, Virginia for us yesterday. Obviously...
TOOBIN: I sure was.
COLLINS: ... he pleaded guilty, and we heard from him later in the day giving his apology. Today, though, it seems to be all about the money. It's quite a convoluted issue, too, because whether or not the team can get a certain amount back. Is it for the entire contract, or is it just for the remainder of this year, when he actually is defaulting on that contract? How is this going to go?
TOOBIN: Well, I think this is going to be a process of negotiation for sometime. The Falcons have asked for $22 million back. Last night on Anderson Cooper, Lee Steinberg, who's one of the top agents in football, said he thought they would wind up getting about $4 million back.
What Michael Vick did yesterday was start his campaign to get reinstated to the NFL. He made that what I thought was actually a sincere statement last -- at a hotel after his guilty plea, he said he was sorry. He took responsibility for his actions. Sure, it was convenient at that time. Some people are cynical about his finding Jesus at this point in his life. But he is trying to turn over a new leaf, and after he finishes his prison sentence, probably about a year, he's going to go to the commissioner and ask to be reinstated and, you know, frankly, I think he will be. It will be two years probably before he has a chance to play again, but he'll only be 30 years old, and he might have some career ahead of him.
COLLINS: All right, Jeff Toobin for us this morning on all legal issues today. Thanks a again, live from Richmond, Virginia.
TOOBIN: See you, Heidi.
ROBERTS: Coming up to 35 minutes after the hour. Breaking news to report to you this morning here on AMERICAN MORNING. News out of Afghanistan this morning that the Taliban has agreed to release all 19 remaining South Korean hostages that they are holding. They captured 23 of them back on the 19th of July. Two male hostages were executed. Two females were later released. There have been negotiations ongoing for the release of the remaining 19.
And we learned just a few minutes ago that the Taliban has now agreed to release all 19 remaining South Korean hostages held for a month there -- more than a month in Afghanistan. We'll have more details on this coming up as we get some available.
New details about the driving record of Hulk Hogan's son -- 17- year-old Nick Bollea was released from the hospital a day after his car slammed into a tree in Tampa. The car was destroyed. His 22- year-old friend, who was a passenger, is in critical condition. No charges have been filed, but police say Bollea was definitely speeding. TMZ and thesmokinggun.com are reporter that Bollea has been ticketed five times for speeding in just the past year.
Are there more reckless teens on the road than ever before? We sent our Greg Hunter out to find out. We're going to talk with him in just a bit.
And those antibacterial soaps, they claim to kill germs, but those claims may not wash. Sanjay Gupta is taking a look at who cleans up -- Sanjay.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, that's a pretty good tease there, John. Yes, you know, we've been looking into this for a little bit here, those antibacterial soaps, spent a lot of money on them. But are they any better than regular soap? What is the specific ingredient that might make them better? I'm also going to show you what we use in the hospital right before we go in the operating room.
Stay with us here on AMERICAN MORNING.
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COLLINS: 7:39 now. I want to get to Rob Marciano in Ketchum, Idaho for us this morning. Rob, we've been talking about this massive fire and the really interesting way that they have been fighting it.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, they've been doing it from all angles, Heidi. What's scary about this particular fire is it's getting close to this resort. It's actually in the resort in spots, and getting close to the town of Ketchum. Right now 42,000 acres have been burned.
They've got containment of 44 percent so we're not past the halfway mark. They still have 38 miles of fire line they need to cut. So they are fighting this thing from the air. That's ideal, but fixed wing aircraft have been grounded for the most part because of the high winds, so choppers have been up. They've got 12 of them to work the fire line, and of course, so air support is key.
On the ground they have got over 800 firefighters chopping, digging and hosing down and trying to get a handle on this thing. Yesterday we went to the top of the mountain now 9,000 feet up there on top of that (ph) mountain. Talked to one of the guys managing this fire. What are the challenges that you have to deal with when you're trying to fight a fire from the top of a mountain?
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It could move three or four miles an hour up the hill and 20 or 30-foot flame lines coming up here. So, we have structure protection in place and we've done our homework and prepared. And ready to defend this hill if it comes up here. (END VIDEO CLIP)
MARCIANO: And they are defending it from all different angles for the first time that we know in firefighting history, they turned on the snow guns to fight a fire here in the middle of summertime. So they used choppers, obviously, but they got the snow guns out that are typically used to make snow in the winter time.
They used it to blow the water out and try to defend the lodge that's on the top of that hill, John and they did a good job of doing that doing that two days ago. Winds cooperating a little bit more right now. It's pretty calm. They expect west winds 10, 20 miles an hour.
That's not a good direction that blows it toward town, but as long as they keep it below 20 miles an hour they think they will probably keep a handle on this thing. And they want to get a handle on it before this weekend because that's when forecasters are saying a big wind event may very well fan these flames once again. So the next few days are critical. John?
ROBERTS: But as we said, a couple of weeks ago, Rob, if I'm not mistaken, these fires could continue in Idaho until the snow flies.
MARCIANO: Well, they're in extreme drought here. This is a dry season. They're not going to get much help from mother nature. If they lucky, they'll get a thunderstorm that brings some rain, but those thunderstorms often bring more lightning strikes as well. So, you're right it may very well be until the snow falls this fall before they get a handle on this.
ROBERTS: Incredible. Rob Marciano for us in Ketchum, Idaho. Rob, thanks very much.
When it comes to fighting germs is antibacterial soap any better than regular soap? CNN's Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta is in Atlanta on this. So, Is it, Sanjay?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's interesting because we pay a lot of attention to antibacterial soap. There's lots of products out there, and there's been a lot of questions as to whether or not they can actually kill some of these germs, especially this time of year, more so than regular soap.
There's a lot of promises anyways that they can, but new study showing, in fact, if you put them side-to-side, just regular soap and many of these antibacterial products, there really is no difference. A couple of points here. One is that the active ingredient, if you will, in a lot of the antibacterial soaps is something know as triclosan, it's the same sort of ingredient found if hospital soaps.
So, researchers looked at 27 different studies actually looking these triclosan soaps versus regular soaps, and found no difference between them in terms of a couple of things. A, in terms of the number of infectious diseases they prevented, and two is the amount of bacteria that was still lingering on your hands afterward. The triclosan, to be clear is a germ killer, but the concentrations that they use in these antibacterial soaps appears to be too low to really make it any different than just regular soap, John.
ROBERTS: So, do these soaps kill things like salmonella, E. coli? The types of bacteria that you would see in a bathroom that you would be concerned about in your kitchen?
GUPTA: Well, regular soap and these triclosan sort of carrying soaps don't seem to do a pretty good job of killing these bacteria or any of the viruses. What they tend to do is loosen a lot of that stuff off of your skin, and then you put your hands underneath the water and it sort of washes it down into the sink drain.
So again, at these concentrations that are found in sort of the available soaps publicly you're not going to have high enough concentrations to kill these bacteria.
ROBERTS: Just before we went to the commercial break, you held up a little foil pack. That's the stuff they use in hospitals, you're a neurosurgeon you go in and scrub up all the time, what do you use?
GUPTA: So, the hospital soaps have a lot of different chemicals. First of all, they have higher concentrations of the triclosan but the also have a substance called chlorhexidem. I just want to show you real quick, I'm opening that up. You get a little brush here and it's just soaked in all this stuff and you basically wash your hands with it.
And you basically -- what they tell you to do is actually wash your hands for at least six minutes if you're going to actually go into the operating room as I'm doing here. If you're washing at home with any kind of soap you want to wash it long enough to make sure you get the stuff off of your hands, the germs and viruses and let it wash down the sink at least a couple of minutes.
But in the O.R. we're using chlorhexidem, high doses of triclosan and actually washing those hands for about six minutes.
ROBERTS: You're making quite a mess there, Sanj.
GUPTA: I know, I got this towel here.
ROBERTS: I'm smelling a "Daily Show" moment here.
GUPTA: I'm clean. I've got clean hands, I'm ready to go.
ROBERTS: Thanks very much. If you have a question for Sanjay go to CNN.COM/AMERICANMORNING and email, as Sanjay will answer them Thursday here on AMERICAN MORNING.
More health news now it's a new study suggesting that treating women who develop diabetes during pregnancy could greatly reduce the chance that their child would be obese. If gone untreated the women are twice as likely to have an overweight child. And, it's being called the best evidence yet of the healing power of stem cells. Private researchers say they successfully used stem cells to repair damaged hearts in rats. They hope the process could one day help people recovering from heart attacks.
The driving record of Hulk Hogan's son in the news this morning. Just how dangerous are teens drivers in general. Greg Hunter is looking out for you, next on AMERICAN MORNING.
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COLLINS: He should be starting his first day in sixth great, instead an 11-year-old Alabama boy is a freshman in college. Keith Harding is headed to Huntington College it's in Montgomery. There he is, look at him with the backpack. He says he wants to make movies one day. Three of his older sisters all started college by the age of 12.
ROBERTS: So, he's a little bit ahead of the older sisters. Good for him. TMZ.COM and THESMOKINGGUN.COM are reporting today that Hulk Hogan's son Nick Bollea was ticketed for speeding five times in the past year. This was before plowing his car into a tree two nights ago. We've heard a lot of these kinds of reports lately.
Speeding, racing even texting while driving. Greg Hunter looked into some of the most common reasons why teen drivers crash. He joins us now from Queens, New York with more. Greg, what did you find out?
GREG HUNTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, John. I'm at Francis Lewis Boulevard, this is a notorious illegal street racing site. And why not? It's wide, it's flat, it's a mile between lights. It's only a few miles from Manhattan. It's also been the sight of many teen accidents. When it comes to teens and car wrecks you can pretty much sum it up with just two words -- bad judgment.
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HUNTER: Car crashes are the leading cause of death for American teens. More than 5,000 deaths a year are caused by those drivers. Experts say that reasons are broad, from driving fast, street racing, to texting, using cell phones, and a relatively new phenomenon called ghost riding where drivers and passengers get out of there car, and begin surfing on the roof, hood or trunk.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To leave a vehicle completely uncontrolled and to just trust it to nature, if you will, and the forces of nature and physics is taken foolish to new heights.
HUNTER: Twenty-five-year-old Vip Patel said he started ghost riding for adrenaline rush, and posted it on MySpace.
VIP PATEL, GHOST RIDER: The thrill of just doing it, and, you know, taking the risk.
HUNTER: Racing is also a problem. One-third of all deaths from teenage accidents are caused by speeding. This past weekend a California teen was sentenced to two years in county jail for street racing. Police say she caused an accident last year that killed the prince and princess of the island nation of Tonga.
The need for speed is not new. It's been glorified in Hollywood films, like "The Fast and the Furious," and is all over the Internet with personal postings of drag racing cars, motorcycles, weaving in and out of traffic, and speeding. Like the case of Hulk Hogan's son who, police say, was traveling at a high rate of speed that left his passenger critically injured.
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HUNTER: Parents could be getting help in watching their teens with a new technology called drive-cam, where you mount a camera inside the vehicle that shoots both the driver and what the driver is seeing, and if there is erratic driving or speeding, an e-mail with video gets sent to your parents.
There's also GPS that's happening as well. So far, it's in limited just to a few states where it's happening, but the company, drive-cam, say they hope to have it in wider release in the coming years. It's already been used in commercial fleets, and it's really cut down driving accidents, because, you know, the boss can watch the driver and see what they're doing and see what kind of mistakes they're making, because the camera records, and that could be coming in wide review in the next year or so to parents across the country.
Back to you guys.
COLLINS: Sounds like a great idea. Greg Hunter for us along Francis Lewis Boulevard in Queens. Greg, thanks very much.
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COLLINS: This dramatic explosion of a China Airlines jet here prompting the FAA to order inspections on all Boeing 737s. 738 planes involved here in the United States. Ali Velshi is going to be along in just a few minutes to talk more about what airlines are affected and what it might mean to you. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
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COLLINS: A teen beauty queen is defending herself after a gaffe on national television that turned her into kind of a laughing stock. Eighteen-year-old Lauren Caitlin Upton is Miss Teen South Carolina. She was competing in the Miss Teen USA pageant last Friday on NBC when she tried to answer a question about why many Americans can't find the United States on a map. Listen.
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LAUREN CAITLIN UPTON, MISS TEEN SOUTH CAROLINA: I personally believe that U.S. Americans are unable to do so because some people out there in our nation don't have that, and I believe that our education, like such as in South Africa and Iraq, everywhere like such as, and I believe that they should -- our education over here in the U.S. should help the U.S. -- or should help South Africa, and should help Iraq and the Asian countries, so we will be able to build up our future.
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COLLINS: Yes. Upton tells a South Carolina newspaper she misunderstood the question and lost her train of thought. The maps? Where are the maps? Do you have a map?
ROBERTS: I think I left mine in South Africa.
Ali Velshi is here Minding Your Business.
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I have room maps for you.
COLLINS: Very painful.
ROBERTS: OK, back to more serious news.
VELSHI: We were talking about the 737s where the FAA has asked a number of airlines to inspect them. We were talking about next generation, what they call next-generation 737s after this explosion in Japan of a China Airlines flight.
Let me just tell you who flies these planes. This 737, the next generation, which has been around since the late '90s is one of the most popular planes around. There are 783 of them with U.S. airlines right now, but there are 2,300 planes worldwide. Take a look at this. Southwest has the biggest fleet of them. These are the next generation 737s, 286, and then Continental, American and Delta. Alaska has 54 of them, but it last March announced that it's going to an entire 737 fleet, getting rid of all its MD-80s. Airtran has 50, ATA and Aloha.
As a class of plane, you both know this, the 737s are a real workhorse. They've had more than 6,000 of them sold in Boeing's history, which is more planes than Airbus has made. So it's a very, very popular -- it's the most popular commercial passenger plane.
COLLINS: It was interesting what you were saying before, too. When you have a 737, you see it as the equipment listed on your ticket you're actually happy...
VELSHI: It's got a little bit of space. It means I'm not getting on to a little tiny jet where I have to duck my head and stuff my stuff in front of me.
COLLINS: Fly five hours on that.
VELSHI: Yes.
COLLINS: All right, Ali. We'll watch that story certainly. Thanks so much.
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