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American Morning
Terror Arrests; Craig Reconsiders; The Search For Fossett; Mattel's Third Toy Recall; Hurricane Felix
Aired September 05, 2007 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news. Terror arrests. A plot against a U.S. military base and an international airport.
Plus, Larry Craig, ready to rewind?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. LARRY CRAIG, (R) IDAHO: It is my intent, intent to resign from the Senate.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: His last-minute decision to stand and fight. And the voice mail you weren't supposed to hear that could explain it all, on this AMERICAN MORNING.
And good morning. Thanks very much for joining us. We are just jam-packed full of news on this Wednesday, September the 5th. I'm John Roberts.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Kiran Chetry.
That's right. We're going to talk about a possible reversal by Senator Larry Craig on his intention to resign. It certainly is the buzz around Washington.
But we start off with a possible terror attack. 6:00 a.m. on the East Coast, 12:00 noon in Germany and there is breaking news. A major terror plot busted up in Germany. It was against Ramstein Air Base, which is a U.S. military facility and Frankfurt International Airport.
Three men were arrested in an overnight raid. And Germany's defense minister says there was "an eminent threat." The men were very close to carrying out an attack.
The suspects are accused are planning to bomb Frankfurt International Airport. It is the busiest airport on the European continent. And Ramstein Airbase, crucial point for the U.S. military.
Now these days coming just days before the sixth anniversary of the September 11th attacks. And many of the 9/11 leaders were based, for a time at least, in Hamburg. You may remember that Hamburg cell.
This is the second terrorism-related arrest in Europe in the past 48 hours. Police in Denmark also say they uncovered a bomb plot. They arrested eight men and say that those men had links to al Qaeda. CNN's international security correspondent, Paula Newton, is live in Copenhagen, Denmark, with the very latest on both of these potential plots that were busted up.
Hi, Paula.
PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And hello, Kiran.
At this moment right now, German officials are really giving us a very good indication of what this plot was all about in Germany, as you said, targeting the international airport and U.S. military facilities. Key here is that they say they had training in Pakistan with, again, direct links to al Qaeda. They also say that they were under surveillance for several days and there might have been some indication that they knew they were going to make massive bombs, car bombs, with hydrogen peroxide and that authorities were able to make the switch and give them a substance that perhaps wasn't quite as lethal. We will begin to learn more about this investigation in the coming hours. As we say, the press conference in Germany still ongoing.
Kiran, I went to those military facilities in Germany a few months ago. U.S. service personnel certainly on high alert there. But it wasn't the kind of security that you'd expect to see in this kind of a climate. We spoke to some family members there about this. They said at the time, some were concerned and others were content to just leave it with the German authorities, knowing that they had the situation under control.
Kiran.
CHETRY: It is interesting to see later on, though, if there are more arrests. I mean you're talking about three people. That's a small number if they were really going to plan to attack both a humongous airport, as well as a well-protected U.S. military installation.
NEWTON: It is and that is the key. Now when they start to undergo these searches on these properties, they will begin to look at phone records, SIM cards. They'll look at computer terminals. Try and see how far the web went.
Clear, though, here, Kiran, are the links to al Qaeda and to Pakistan. We see that familiar pattern not just in Germany but right here in Denmark as well.
You know, this is a completely new pattern. A year ago we were hearing from authorities that al Qaeda was diffused. It was not directly orchestrating attacks and that these attacks were more al Qaeda inspired. What we're seeing now, Kiran, this morning, is a completely different picture. You're talking about leaders, holed up in Pakistan, al Qaeda leaders, pulling the strings here in Europe.
Kiran.
CHETRY: Very interesting. You're right, they talked about inspirational versus operational. But according to these two arrests, that may be changing.
We'll check in with you throughout the morning. Paula Newton, thank you.
ROBERTS: Three minutes after the hour now and the senator arrested in a men's bathroom stall may not resign after all. A spokesman for Idaho Republican Larry Craig says is he is reconsidering his decision to step down at the end of this month. Craig, on Saturday, said it was his "intent to resign."
It turns out that his words were very carefully chosen. The Capitol Hill newspaper "Roll Call" obtained a voice mail message that Larry Craig left on his way to that Saturday announcement. They didn't say where it came from, but it would appear that Craig thought he was calling his attorney, Billy Martin. In the message Craig says support from one colleague inspired him to make that slight change of language.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. LARRY CRAIG, (R) IDAHO: I'm willing to fight. I've got quality people out there fighting in my defense. And that this thing could take a new turn or a new shape. It has that potential.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: The senator hired Billy Martin to fight his guilty plea to disorderly conduct charges. Craig may decide to stay in the Senate if he beats the rap. He's got about another 25 days left to do it. As you can imagine, this is all quite a surprise on Capitol Hill. So let's turn now to our congressional correspondent, Dana Bash. She has been following every twist and turn of this story.
And, Dana, this was a twist that some people looked at as a possibility when he said the word "I intend," but nobody ever thought that he really meant that.
DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. It sort of seemed to be kind of Senate-speak, if you will. That that's the way he spoke. But, look, a spokesman for Senator Craig is reminding us now, making a point to remind us, that he is trying to overturn the guilty plea that he signed, admitting to misconduct in a Minneapolis men's room airport. And if he is successful, his spokesman says, he may not resign.
Now this whole idea of pulling back does appear to be prompted by a phone call Senator Craig got from Republican Senator Arlen Specter, one of the only supporters that we have found so far, at least to go public. And this phone call came just before Senator Craig had his news conference on Saturday. And as you said, the "Role Call" newspaper did get a voice mail message that Senator Craig appears to have thought he was leaving for his attorney and he talked about the phone call he got. Let's listen to more.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) CRAIG: Yes, Billy, this is Larry Craig calling. You can reach me on my cell. Arlen Specter is now willing to come out in my defense, arguing that it appears by all that he knows I've been railroaded and all of that. Having all of that, we've reshaped my statement a little bit to say, it is my intent to resign on September 30.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: There you hear Senator Craig saying that at least one of his colleagues thought he was being railroaded. Railroaded, of course, by the Republican leadership that pushed him out.
Now CNN is told that Senator Craig was calling his Republican colleagues yesterday, now that they are back in session here in Washington, to try to gauge support. Unclear what he was told. But it is very clear that if this whole idea of Senator Craig not resigning is a trial balloon (ph), it has fallen with a huge thud here on Capitol Hill with those Republican colleagues who's leadership -- one Republican leadership aide I talked to said that this will hurt Senator Craig with any goodwill that he still has with his Republican colleagues here. And this aide says, "like a fish out of water, he is gasping for his last breath of political air."
John.
ROBERTS: Dana, do we have any idea where this e-mail came from? Did he accidentally punch in the wrong numbers and then somebody sent this to "Roll Call"? Or might this be an intentional leak?
BASH: Well, this is truly another bizarre twist in this saga, John. The "Roll Call" newspaper, what they say is that Senator Craig accidentally left this voice mail for somebody, according to the paper, somebody who's not involved in politics at all. And this source, who declined to be named, as you could imagine, the source told "Roll Call" that this person's cell phone had a number of missed calls from what appeared to be Senator Craig's cell phone over the past couple of weeks. So it is quite interesting that Senator Craig, it seems, thought he was calling his attorney, but was calling somebody else, a civilian it seems, that got this voice mail. It was clear it was Senator Craig and this person gave the voice mail to "Roll Call" newspaper.
ROBERTS: Well, big, big oops on his part then.
Dana Bash on Capitol Hill. Thanks.
It could be a make or break week for Iraq now just when lawmakers thought it was all behind them. A senator sex scandal to take attention away from all of that, particular the Iraq War. CNN political analyst John Dickerson on the damage it could do, in just a few minutes time here on AMERICAN MORNING.
Kiran.
CHETRY: We're also following the latest developments in another breaking story today, and that is the desperate search for missing millionaire adventurer Steve Fossett. Search teams will resume their massive air search in about four hours. Fossett has not been seen since Monday, when a small plane he was flying vanished in the Nevada desert after takeoff. Right now strong winds and extremely rugged terrain are making things difficult in that search for rescuers. CNN's Ted Rowlands in live in Minden, Nevada, with the latest on what could be going on later today when they get back up in the air and search.
Hi, Ted.
TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kiran.
Yes, time's starting to be a factor in this. They really want to find Steve Fossett soon. He has, as you mentioned, been out since Monday morning. That's when he was last seen. He went on a bit of a reconnaissance mission. He was by himself in a single engine plane. He was looking for dried up lake beds for an upcoming attempt at breaking the land speed record.
So he was by himself. He didn't file a flight plane. He had about three to four hours' worth of fuel. He was supposed to return Monday at noon. By 6:00 they reported him missing.
Yesterday was the first full day of an earnest search and they spent it up in the air using all the assets they could gather. And they basically equated it to finding a needle in a haystack. We're talking about a 600-square-mile potential spot that they think he could be in. That's about half the size of the state of Rhode Island. And we're talking about being up in the air and trying to look down and find a plane and find any sign of Steve Fossett.
He did have an emergency beacon with him on that plane. That hasn't been deployed. Good news in the sense that there wasn't a major crash. That would have deployed it. But sort of concerning news because if he was able to land the plane, he could have manually deployed it to get some help. So they're not quite sure if the beacon's not working or what the situation is, but safe to say there's a lot of concern here and they'll be back up in the air at first light.
CHETRY: Yes, it really strikes people that follow his adventures. He broke the world record for flying the furthest solo -- the solo balloon flight. And to think that just a small scouting mission would take down this adventurer is really unbelievable.
ROWLANDS: Yes. But on the other hand, this is the guy you want to be out there fighting this. If indeed he is in need of help or he's trying to survive, boy, this guy's done it all. You mentioned the flying in the balloon, the planes and the gliders, the balloons. But also sailing. He's set world records in sailing and cross country skiing. He's been in the Iditarod sled dog race. Swam the English Channel.
I mean this guy should be able to survive. And that's what searchers say they're hopeful of. He's also an icon for a lot of these searchers themselves. They're up in these planes and he's an aviation icon. A lot of people very concerned. His wife is in the region waiting word as well. And today is a big day in this search effort. They'll be at it at first flight and they will be at it hard, trying to find a sign of Steve Fossett.
CHETRY: All right. Ted Rowlands for us in Nevada. Thank you.
One note, by the way. His really good friend, billionaire Sir Richard Branson, weighing in saying, you know, he's a tough old boot and if anyone can survive it, he can. We hope to speak with him, Sir Richard Branson, coming up in the next hour.
John.
ROBERTS: Looking forward to that. Eleven minutes after the hour and time now to check in with our AMERICAN MORNING team of correspondents for other stories new that we're following this morning.
Mattel announces its third recall in a month because of possible lead paint on toys made in China. Our Ali Velshi is watching this from the business update desk.
Not against, Ali.
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Unbelievable. I mean talk about parents making a list and checking it twice for the holiday season. Mattel now announcing a recall of about 775,000 toys because of lead paint. These toys were made in China. Mattel says it's a result of extensive testing that it's done since those other recalls.
Let's talk about what's happening right now. The toys being recalled are in three major section, the Big Big World 6-1 bongo band toys. Musical accessories for perschoolers. About 9,000 of those. The Barbie playset accessories. That's the bulk of it, 675,000 pieces being recalled there. And Geotrax locomotive toys, about 90,000 pieces there.
Mattel says this recall has resulted in these new -- this investigation into its own products has resulted into this recall. August 1st, you remember, we had 1.5 million toys recalled from Mattel. Later in August, another 19 million.
Shares of Mattel are actually up a little bit in the pre-market trading. Possibly because of the fact that Mattel is saying it's its own investigations now that are turning over these new products that are possibly dangerous and that they will tell consumers if this happens. The problem right now, John, is that as we lead up to the holiday season, they can't do anything to replace these toys. These toys are built and shipped. So it's going to be an issue to see what parents do over the holidays.
We'll continue to track this and Greg Hunter is going to have more details specifically on the toys and their dangers later on in the show.
ROBERTS: All right, Ali, thanks very much. We'll see you in just a little bit.
Back to our top story now.
Three men under arrest for plotting to bomb Frankfurt's international airport and the U.S. airbase in Ramstein, Germany. CNN's Monita Rajpal joins us now from our world update desk in London.
Troubling news this morning, Monita.
MONITA RAJPAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Very troubling indeed, John. Good morning to you.
Now Frankfurt's international airport is the third busiest airport in Europe. It is the world's eighth busiest airport. It accommodates some 50 million passengers a year. That comes down to about hundreds of thousands of passengers every day. So the casualty count, if these attacks were indeed successful, would have been extremely high.
It say major transportation hub with a runway capacity of about 80 flights departing and landing each hour. Not only is it a major center for European travel, it also accommodates connections to and from long haul flights from the Americas, Asia, Africa and the Middle East. It is also a major cargo hub. It also operates some 129 major carriers operate out of Frankfurt's international airport, including American carriers such as Delta, United, Northwestern, Continental and U.S. Airways.
Now the other targeted site for this alleged plot was Ramstein Airbase, which is a major transit point for coalition troops who are coming into and out of Iraq and Afghanistan. Those who are injured are transported there and then on to the nearby medical facility at Landstuhl. It is also a major point for U.S. troops and materiel traveling into and out of Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
John.
ROBERTS: When do we expect to hear more about this, Monita?
RAJPAL: The news conference that's taking place in Germany is happening right now as we speak. And, of course, the investigation is ongoing. What we understand now, Frankfurt International Airport is not on high alert. The country, as a whole, has been on high alert, especially after two failed bombs that took place -- were supposed to have taken place last year. But again, the country, the airport in itself is not on high alert, but, of course, security is always high on major European airports.
ROBERTS: All right, Monita, thanks very much. We'll get back to you with more from that press conference. Appreciate it.
Yesterday's big story, of course, at this time was Hurricane Felix barreling in on the Nicaragua coast with winds of 160 miles an hour. Our Rob Marciano now in the extreme weather center, tracking Felix.
What's it looking like today, Rob?
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, a lot weaker than it was yesterday, that's for sure, John. We are watching not one, not two, but three items on the agenda for tropical activity. We begin with Felix now finally downgraded to a tropical depression. The center of which is right over the central and western part of Honduras. The National Hurricane Center think it is will dissipate over land, but it does gets over into the Pacific. We'll watch it for a future development. But right now it's a big-time rainmaker and mudslides and landslides still a potential there.
Other item right here. This is Henriette. This is a hurricane with 75 mile-an-hour winds. It made landfall yesterday over Cabo San Lucas. Now over the Gulf of California. It will make a second landfall over mainland Mexico and then head toward the U.S., likely as a rainmaker, in through parts of the desert southwest, maybe even into Texas.
All right. Item number three. This one of a little bit more concern. Circulation or it might be a circulation. The National Hurricane Center is going to send out a plane later on this afternoon off the shore of Florida, between Florida and say Bermuda. And the reason we're concerned about this is, of course, because it is so close to the U.S. So that is an item that the National Hurricane Center is watching. And we'll let you know what they say when they fly an airplane into it later on this afternoon. So close to the U.S., John, obviously we want to watch that one very carefully. Nothing official yet.
ROBERTS: Appears for the moment to be headed in the right direction, away from the U.S. But we've seen in the past, those things can loop back around and hit.
MARCIANO: And the pattern is setting up that we might see a block that may shove it back to the U.S. So that's even a greater concern.
ROBERTS: All right, Rob, thanks very much. We know that you'll keep watching that for us.
Kiran.
CHETRY: All right. Thanks a lot, John.
Well first he pleaded guilty, and then after that he said he intended to step down, and now we're hearing that he may be trying to take back both. The fallout from Senator Larry Craig's sex scandal and his last-ditch effort to stay in Washington. All of that coming up on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Coming up to 20 minutes after the hour. Several big stories breaking right now on AMERICAN MORNING.
First, terror arrests in Germany. A major attack broken up against Ramstein Airbase and Frankfurt International Airport. German authorities are still briefing reporters. We will bring you the very latest on that just ahead here on AMERICAN MORNING.
We're also watching the search for millionaire adventurer Steve Fossett, resuming at daylight in the Nevada desert. His plane vanished after takeoff on Monday way to the far west of the state of Nevada, right there along the California border, just about 60 miles southeast of Carson City.
Kiran.
CHETRY: John, thanks.
Well, also some shocking news breaking late last night, that scandal-plagued Senator Larry Craig appears to be changing his mind about stepping now. Now we're learning that he may have not intended to resign at all, all along, when he said this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CRAIG: It is with sadness and deep regret that I announce that it is my intent to resign from the Senate effective September 30th.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Joining me now from Washington is CNN political analyst John Dickerson. And you've got to listen to those words carefully "my intent." So when he said "intent to resign" last Saturday, he was leaving the door open, apparently, for a comeback.
What possibly would his comeback strategy be, John?
JOHN DICKERSON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, it's hard to know what ace comeback strategy would be because things so desperate for him. As I was dialing around last night, one person who works in the party said, you know, he's the gift that keeps on giving. They said this sort of ruefully. He doesn't have a lot of supporters in his own party in Washington. And even if he can mount a legal comeback, which would be founded on this idea that he shouldn't have pled guilty and that he was wrongly charged, that still doesn't improve his position with all of his Republican colleagues here in Washington.
CHETRY: All right. So it appears that he placed this phone call, which is the even more unbelievable part, accidentally to someone he thought was his lawyer. Was the wrong number. And then, of course, that person got the message and leaked it to "Roll Call," a Washington newspaper. So really, I mean, this thing just keeps on giving, if you will. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CRAIG: Yes, Bill, this is Larry Craig calling. You can reach me on my cell. Arlen Specter is now willing to come out in my defense, arguing that it appears by all that he knows I've been railroaded and all of that. Having all of that, we've reshaped my statement a little bit to say, it is my intent to resign on September 30. (END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: OK. So he says it there in this phone call that he reworded his statement and he also points to the words of Arlen Specter, that clearly encouraged him.
DICKERSON: They used to say about senators who were running for president and who had no visible support, that what happens is, even though 100 people have told them not to run, that they listen to the one person who tells them to run. And this seems to now be the case with Larry Craig.
He's listened to Arlen Specter, who is not a party man. Arlen Specter is often broken from the Republican Party. But all of the people who are guarding the fortunes of the Republican Party, which are in some trouble right now, have wanted to get this away. The leader in the Senate, Senator McConnell, has said this is over and, you know, wants to very much turn the page.
CHETRY: You know, so now do they have to get a little nastier? Because, I mean, even though they did pounce quickly, no one was terribly nasty about this. But how now will the Republican leadership react?
DICKERSON: That's right. They weren't nasty in public. In private they sent all kinds of signals. You know, they almost posted someone outside of his door. And I suspect today we'll see perhaps somebody say something declarative and definitive out loud. But, of course, the problem here is for Republicans that they don't want to now get into a huge, public fight with Craig, which continues this in the news cycle on and on and on. So they're calibrating at this hour how to react.
CHETRY: They were supposed to be talking about Iraq and how things were going there and it looks like Senator Craig is back in the spotlight and the saga continues. CNN political analyst John Dickerson, thanks.
DICKERSON: Thank you.
ROBERTS: We continue to follow two breaking news stories this morning. The overnight arrests in an overseas terror plot targeting a U.S. airbase. That was in Germany.
Plus, a new race to find multimillionaire adventurer Steve Fossett, missing in the Nevada desert. Live reports ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: A look now to story coming up in our next half hour that you just can't miss. This one is so intriguing it has captured the attention of the nation really.
CHETRY: Yes. It's multimillionaire adventurer Steve Fossett. You my remember him. He's the one that traveled the world alone in a hot air balloon. He's broken hundreds of records for various aviation flights. And it will just be interesting to see what happens today. There are people holding out hope. He's been missing in an area that they refer to as a needle in a haystack in Nevada.
ROBERTS: Oh, yes. I was using Google Earth earlier this morning to take a look at that area. And it's about 60 miles southeast of Carson City. It's actually William Hilton's (ph) ranch. It's a huge, huge place. And there's a lot of desert out there. There's some hills, deep valleys. He could be anywhere.
But don't forget, this is a guy that once, when he had to make an emergency landing, walked 30 miles to find help. And remember in one of his around the world solo attempts he had to ditch in the ocean off of New Caledonia.
CHETRY: There's a lot of optimism this morning, especially coming from his close friend, billionaire Sir Richard Branson, who is saying he's a tough old boot. I bet you he's standing by his plane right now waiting to be rescued. So we -- everyone's holding out hope this morning. And we're going to hear from Richard Branson coming up in our next hour.
ROBERTS: Stay with us, because those stories ahead when AMERICAN MORNING returns.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN NEWS ANCHOR: All right, we are starting with breaking news. It is 6:30 a.m. on the east coast. That is a look, though, where it is 12:30 in Germany this morning. And German authorities are briefing reporters about a terror plot that they busted up, making three arrests. They say that it was a target of not only Frankfurt International Airport, but Ramstein Air Base as well, the U.S. military installation there in Germany. We're continuing to follow the latest developments -- who may be behind it, what was the motivation and are there going to be more arrests as they investigate.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN NEWS ANCHOR: All of that coming up. By the way, it's Wednesday, September the 5th. You're watching "AMERICAN MORNING."
We start this morning with a senator arrested in a men's bathroom stall. He may not resign after all. A spokesman for Idaho Republican Larry Craig says he is reconsidering his decision to step down at the end of the month. Craig said on Saturday it was his intent to do so. It turns out that was a carefully-crafted use of the word "I intend to step down." The Capitol Hill newspaper "Roll Call" obtained a voice mail message from Craig. The paper said it recorded on his way to that announcement. Apparently, meant for his attorney, Billy Martin, but ended up on somebody else's voice mail. In it, Craig says support from one colleague inspired him to make that slight change in language.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
"Yes, Billy, this is Larry Craig calling. You can reach me on my cell. Arlen Specter is willing to come to my defense arguing that it appears, for all he knows, I've been railroaded and all of that. Having all of that, I've reshaped my statement a little bit to say it is my intent to resign on September 30th."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: The senator hired Billy Martin to fight a disorderly conduct charge to which he already pleaded guilty. Craig may decide to stay in the Senate if he beats the rap.
To Capital Hill now where congressional correspondent Dana Bash is watching the reaction to all of this. Remember, she spent the weekend and all of last week in Boise, Idaho, as all of this has going down.
How has the news landed there on Capitol Hill this morning, Dana?
DANA BASH, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: With a huge thud, as you could imagine. The Republican leadership were the ones that forced Senator Craig out. Let me read you the statement from Senator Craig's spokesman, Dan Whiting. He said, quote, "As he stated on Saturday, Senator Craig intends to resign on September 30th. However, he is fighting these charges and, should he be cleared before that, he may, and I emphasize 'may', not resign."
Because of that voice mail obtained by "Roll Call" we know that the whole idea of keeping the door open was prompted by one call of support from his Republican colleague, Arlen Specter, who has publicly said that he thinks that Senator Craig has a good shot at fighting these charges, fighting to overturn the guilty plea that Senator Craig charge -- signed, I should say.
CNN also told, John, that Senator Craig yesterday made calls to other Republican colleagues, Republican Senators on Capitol Hill, to gauge their support. It's unclear what he was told but it is clear, as I mentioned, that the Republican leadership is not happy with this at all. They did what they could to swiftly move Senator Craig, push him to announce that he was resigning. Even if he doesn't, this keeps the story alive, which is exactly what Republican leadership was trying to avoid.
ROBERTS: This is all very complicated for them as well. They would just like him to walk gracefully into the sunset. If he beats the wrap, how could he say no if he says I want to stay?
BASH: It will be extremely hard to do. That is why Senator Craig is leaving the door open. It is a big if, John. You mentioned 25 days, that's all Senator Craig has between now and September 30th to try to beat the wrap and overturn the guilty plea that all legal experts, taking Senator Arlen Specter aside, are saying it is very, very difficult and rare to do in any court of law, especially since this is the United States Senator who should understand the law.
ROBERTS: Certainly taken the Republicans message this week. Dana Bash, on Capital Hill, thanks. We'll check back in with you in awhile. BASH: Thank you.
ROBERTS: Kiran?
CHETRY: The latest now on a breaking story that we're following. Authorities in Germany say they foiled a major terrorist attack, an eminent threat aimed at civilians and U.S. servicepeople. Its targets? Frankfurt International Airport as well as Ramstein Air Base. Officials say they arrested three men in an overnight raid, all members of an Isalmists terror group that was reportedly very close to carrying out this attack. The suspects are expected to go before a federal judge a little later this morning.
This is the second terrorism-related arrest in Europe in 48 hours. Eight alleged terrorists with ties to al Qaeda were also captured in Denmark yesterday.
Let's get to Homeland Security correspondent Jeanne Meserve in our Washington Bureau.
Any reaction from U.S. Officials to this news out of Germany this morning?
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kiran, the U.S. military command in Stuttgart said there were no plans to raise force protection levels although German authorities did alert them to a possible terrorist threat to American installations.
The arrests do not come out of the blue. Last spring U.S. officials described what they called credible and very real threat information that Islamic extremists might try to launch multiple attacks against U.S. military and diplomatic facilities in Germany. No attacks materialized then, though U.S. military forces did engage in security exercises and the State Department increased security at diplomatic and consular offices and urged U.S. citizens to be vigilant. U.S. Officials will certainly be studying these arrests and the evidence collected to learn more about the threat in Germany and any possible threads back to the U.S. -- Kiran?
CHETRY: They're also looking at these arrests in Denmark as well. Eight people arrested there with ties to possibly al Qaeda.
MESERVE: That's right. Eight men arrested Tuesday in a bomb plot. U.S. Intelligence officials say the men had connections to al Qaeda but they aren't being more specific than that.
In the Denmark case, two U.S. intelligence officials are closely monitoring developments. One Homeland official says, at this time, there's no indication of any link of this country. But one official characterizes the U.S. as being very concerned, saying this was not a small-time operation. The U.S. in Denmark and in Germany illustrating why U.S. officials have been concerned about a heightened threat picture this summer.
CHETRY: Jeanne Meserve in Washington for us, thank you. ROBERTS: Still no sign of multimillionaire adventurer Steve Fossett this morning. The record-holding pilot took off in his single engine plane from a private airstrip in far western Nevada in Monday morning. Fossett was searching for dry lake beds on which it could test a vehicle and attempt to set a world land speed record. He was supposed to return within three hours and never did.
Trooper Chuck Allen from the Nevada Department of Public Safety joins us from Minden, Nevada.
What's the status of the search? At this point, we know that later into the night you were using infrared imaging technology aboard an airplane and a helicopter. Did that turn up anything?
CHUCK ALLEN, TROOPER, NEVADA DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY: No, John, it didn't. Those two aircraft flew until about 11:00 p.m. last night, local Pacific Coast time. But however, we do expect to have the search resumed this morning and airplanes in the air shortly after 7:00 local time.
ROBERTS: Tell us what's going to happen at first light this morning. How many planes will you have up, where will they be searching, how will they be searching?
ALLEN: It's speculated they're still going to contain their search to about a 600-square-mile area, south, east and west of the Yerington area where this gentleman took off. With the rough terrain out here, there may be times when they have to fly over, again, kind of a redundant search, but it's a very difficult -- some of the terrain here is very difficult to see from the aircraft, so they're taking this search very closely.
ROBERTS: Can you explain for us, Trooper, what is the area like? We showed a Google Earth map of it. It looks like a lot of desert, open area. What else are you facing in terms of trying to find this aircraft if it did go down somewhere there?
ALLEN: Some of the terrain is high desert with a lot of sage brush, juniper trees and so forth, but then it rapidly turns into very steep mountainous terrain as you get into western Nevada and eastern California and the Sierra ranges. So not knowing where this gentleman may be at this time, we have a very difficult search ahead of us, but we're confident that, weather permitting -- it looks to be favorable today -- that they will be continuing to search all day long.
ROBERTS: My understanding of it is, Trooper, there's been no signal from an emergency locator beacon it's believed the plane would have been carrying. Do you have any radar data that's being analyzed?
ALLEN: I believe the folks at the Civil Air Patrol are following all the leads in that respect. But to the best of my knowledge, this morning, nothing new developed as far as that.
ROBERTS: We wish you a lot of luck in the search today. We hope that it's successful. We hope that he is found alive and well. We should remind people that he once walked 30 miles to find help after a forced landing in another aircraft, so this is a guy that certainly has a lot of survival skills with him and maybe they'll serve him in good set.
Trooper Chuck Allen, Nevada Department of Public Safety, thanks for being with us early this morning.
ALLEN: Thank you, John.
ROBERTS: See you again soon.
We'll talk with Fossett's good friend, Sir Richard Branson. That's coming up in the next hour here on "AMERICAN MORNING" -- Kiran?
CHETRY: We're following another story this morning. More lead paint problems for Mattel. The world's largest toy maker recalling another 800,000 Chinese-made toys because of excessive amounts of lead paint. It's their third major recall of toys made in China in just over a month.
"AMERICAN MORNING's" Greg Hunter has been looking into this. He joins us with a closer look at Mattel's toy story this morning.
Hi, Greg.
GREG HUNTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kiran. All of the parents want to know what's going on. Mattel is recalling several different toys. The largest group includes items such as the puppy in Barbie's Dream Puppy House, coated with lead paint. The Barbie Dream Kiddy Condo, the play set, the kitty has lead paint, among other Barbie accessories, 675,000 in all. And it's the kind of thing that was manufactured back in September of '06. So if you bought it for Christmas last year you probably, you know, you probably got that.
Also on the list, certain models of Fisher Price Geotrax Locomotive toy and small amount of Fisher Price Bongo Band toys.
Since 2000 -- listen to this -- Mattel has recalled a grand total of 16.74 million toys, the biggest just last month with 11 million toys. Since then, the company says it's strengthened its lead paint testing worldwide. In a statement released last night, Mattel apologized for this current problem and said, "We've promised consumers we'd tell them efficiently and openly if they found any affected toys and that's what we're doing today."
For a complete list of what's on today's recall and other recalls, logon to cnn.com, click on "AMERICAN MORNING." look for my section called "Looking Out for You," -- Kiran?
CHETRY: One of the questions a lot of parents have, why are they still using lead paint at all in children's toys when we know how dangerous lead can be?
HUNTER: They shouldn't be and that's the big problem. All of the pediatricians said lead, it's bad. Developmental problems can happen with children, brain problems can happen with children. And you know, kids are very oral. They'll stick things in their mouth. Some 20,000 kids a year go to the emergency room because they stick something in their mouth. Yes, it's a big problem. They shouldn't be using it.
CHETRY: Where is the missing link? Is it with the manufacturers in China? Why are they continuing to deliver products they know are going to be recalled? Or does Mattel need to crack down a little more?
HUNTER: I talked to a company spokesman on the last recall, the 11 million, and they said, listen, we have had a really good safety record. We make billions of toys. And they also kind of pointed the finger at the Chinese. But, listen, Mattel is the one spec'ing and designing the toys. It's their toys. They're having people that make, you know, ten cents an hour or $1 an hour they make over there to make these toys. You know, you get what you pay for. Mattel says they are cracking down. They spent 50,000 man-hours looking into this. So let's take them at their word.
CHETRY: All right. Keep us posted on how it goes.
By the way, coming up next hour, we're going to speak to a mom. She just took all her Mattel toys, packed them in the car and drove them to the company's headquarters and said, "I want answers." We'll hear what they said, coming up.
HUNTER: Parents are angry.
CHETRY: Yes. Some representatives did come down so we're going to hear what they said to her, coming up. Thanks, Greg Hunter.
John?
ROBERTS: Felix down to a tropical depression today, but may be more dangerous than before. Rob Marciano is up next with the incredible amount of rain that's a threat to set off devastating floods and mudslides in places like Honduras, so hard-hit during Hurricane Mitch. All of that's ahead on "AMERICAN MORNING."
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CHETRY: Welcome back to "AMERICAN MORNING." A look now at what's left of the once powerful Hurricane Felix. Forecasters say there is still a lot of rain in there, as it makes its crawl over Central America. They say as much as a foot of rain could trigger deadly mudslides across the area. It's also interesting they did set a record yesterday.
Our Rob Marciano is taking a look. They say this is the first time since they've been doing recordings that twin hurricanes made landfall the same day. You had the Pacific, Henriette, and you had Felix over in the Atlantic, both coming ashore the same day.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yeah, pretty remarkable stuff. And on top of that, we have the record-setting event of having two Category 5 storms make landfall in the same year, so yesterday was one for the history books, no doubt about that.
What we've got now is -- I seem to have skipped ahead of what's left of Felix. Felix basically is a tropical depression over Honduras. Still has a lot of rain. The mountains are squeezing all of that rain out of them. There will be reports and stories coming out of those two countries, Honduras and Nicaragua, of the potential rainfall that moved maybe some land and unfortunately some mudslides. But word from the National Hurricane or Weather Center equivalent, thereof, saying it doesn't look to be quite as bad as Hurricane Mitch, which killed thousands.
This is Henriette. Henriette made landfall last night across Cabo san Lucas. I must have the wrong source in there. There's the right source. Second landfall as a Category 1 storm and then moving into the desert southwest likely bringing rain. I point this map out because there will be some cool air across the northeast. That cool air sinking into the Atlantic, may be the trigger mechanism for shoving what could be our next tropical storm back to the U.S. this weekend. We'll talk more about that throughout the morning and tomorrow morning as well. We have some time to deal with that one. John, back over to you.
ROBERTS: All right, Rob, thanks very much.
We're staying on top of a breaking news story this morning. Authorities in Germany say they have foiled a terrorist bomb plot aimed at an international airport and a U.S. air base.
Up next, go to our world update desk to get the latest for you on this "AMERICAN MORNING."
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ROBERTS: Nine minutes to the top of the hour. And more now on our top story, a terror plot foiled in Germany. What the authorities there say was an eminent threat that targeted Frankfurt's International Airport and the U.S. air base at Ramstein.
For the latest now on the arrests and the targets, let's go to our world update desk in London. Monita Rajpal is there.
What is the latest there, Monita?
MONITA RAJPAL, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: John, what we understand is that the news conference is still under way, but these three men are scheduled to appear before a federal court judge this Wednesday. What we do know now, from this news conference being held by the German federal police, is that the three men who were German -- two were German citizens, one was a Turkish citizen -- they had close contact with al Qaeda. Again, this is according to German federal police. They were trained in terrorist training in north Pakistan. And they were planning -- according to these German federal police officers, they were planning some attacks in Germany at Frankfurt's International Airport and Ramstein Military Air base, which is a major air base for U.S. troops as well. They were planning simultaneous attacks with numerous kilos of explosives. Again, the police were saying, if these attacks did go through, the attacks would have been much more severe than the attacks that took place here in London in 2005, in the Madrid train bombings in 2004.
Once again, what we do know, these two men are German citizens. They were converts to Islam. The third is a Turkish citizen. And they were arrested Tuesday. They had been under surveillance for months by German authorities. They had been watched going into a home within the countryside in Germany, and they were arrested on Tuesday afternoon. Again, they will appear before a federal court judge this Wednesday. John?
ROBERTS: Monita, thanks very much.
Kiran?
CHETRY: Mattel has recalled more toys now over lead paint concerns. This is the third time in the past month. So what are some of the possible health risks for children exposed to those toys? How concerned should parents be? We'll talk to Sanjay Gupta ahead on "AMERICAN MORNING."
Also auto sales mixed for Detroit's victory. What General Motors did to increase its August sales. Ali Velshi is "Minding Your Business." That's also ahead on "AMERICAN MORNING."
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ROBERTS: It's about four minutes after the top of the hour. Ali Velshi "Minding Your Business" this morning. Car sales for the month of August a mixed bag.
ALI VELSHI, CNN FINANCIAL ANALYST: Yeah, quite surprisingly, GM sales for the month of August were up. You have to look -- most folks don't look on a month-to-month basis. They look at the trend. And the trend remains the same. U.S. Auto sales are down for U.S. auto makers.
For the year, for instance, General Motors is down 7.5 percent. Ford is down a whopping 13 percent, and Chrysler is down, you know, a little less, 2.7 percent. Why? Because GM and Ford are still heavily into the truck business, Ford in particular. Ford has always boasted it has the biggest selling vehicle in America, the "F" series truck. That has been taking a beating for the last couple of years. Those sales continue to drop.
Meanwhile, Toyota continues to do well. In August, Toyota sales dropped, but Toyota is up 4.4 percent year over year. So the trend continues. U.S. Automakers are suffering. Honda and Toyota are doing better in the United States of America.
And what that means is all those cuts we saw last year and in 2005 from Ford and GM, they were hoping that would be enough and hoping a pickup in sales would come this year, and that would set them on the right track. We've seen the signs of profitability from Ford and GM. It may not be enough. Both Ford and GM might pull back production for the remainder of the year. And this has got to do with the gas prices. Those Ford "F" series trucks are taking a big beating because of the slow down in construction, the number of contractors who typically buy those trucks who are not buying them now. They're letting them last a little longer or trying to find something that's more fuel efficient. So right now the answer has not come for the U.S. automakers.
By the way, on track for about 16.5 million cars sold in the United States this year, which is actually a little bit up from last year, a little bit because the automakers from Japan are doing better.
CHETRY: I'm wondering if they're blaming it on you yesterday for suggesting that if you take care of your car, then you keep it.
VELSHI: You can keep it for 15 years, yeah. Sorry about that.
CHETRY: Keep it for 50,000 miles. It's all your fault.
VELSHI: It's good for the economy.
CHETRY: Ali, thanks.
VELSHI: Okay.
ROBERTS: Here are the stories coming up in our next half hour that you just can't miss. It's the book that everybody's talking about this week, "Dead Certain." Robert Draper, a "GQ" magazine correspondent, who interviewed President Bush six times and got some interesting insight into what goes on behind the scenes at the White House.
CHETRY: Unprecedented access of the internal struggles, so we're going to talk to him. It should be a great read.
Also, the search for multimillionaire adventurer Steve Fossett, the man who has broken records when it comes to ballooning, flying, swimming the English Channel, missing and the search is set to resume in about three hours in Nevada. We'll speak to his very good friend, Sir Richard Branson, what he has to say about the man and also what he believes, quite optimistically, that he will be found.
ROBERTS: That's going to be coming up in our next hour. And the next hour of "AMERICAN MORNING" starts right now.
Breaking news, terror plots against a U.S. military base and an international airport.
Plus, is Senator Craig taking it back?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. LARRY CRAIG, (R), IDAHO: It is my intent -- intent to resign from the Senate.
(END VIDEO CLIP) ROBERTS: His accidental voice mail revealed.
And into thin air.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's a very savvy and methodical and determined pilot and I'd give him the highest odds.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Where is millionaire adventurer Steve Fossett? The frantic search on this "AMERICAN MORNING."
Good morning. Thanks very much for joining us on this very, very busy Wednesday, September the 5th. I'm John Roberts.
CHETRY: And I'm Kiran Chetry. It is 7:00 a.m. on the east coast, 1:00 in the afternoon in Germany. And that is where we start with our breaking news this morning. News of a major terror plot, one that would have been launched against Ramstein Air Base, the U.S. air base, and Frankfurt International Airport. That plot busted up this morning. Three men were arrested in a raid that took place overnight. Germany's defense minister says there was, quote, "an eminent threat" and that the men were very close to carrying out the attacks.
The suspects are accused of planning to bomb Frankfurt International Airport. This is the busiest airport on the European continent. Also, Ramstein Air Base, a crucial post for the U.S. military. These arrests come just days before the sixth anniversary of the September 11th attacks, and many of the 9/11 ring leaders were based for a time in Hamburg, Germany.
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