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American Morning
Caught On Tape; Plane Crash Clues; Minding Your Business
Aired September 17, 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: Caught on tape.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
O.J. SIMPSON: Don't let nobody out this room. (BLEEP). Think you can steal my (BLEEP) and sell it?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: This morning, a brand new recording inside the hotel room where O.J. Simpson's latest legal drama began.
Desperate escape.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everything was on fire and I loosened my strap, looked for my -- couldn't find my friend, but got out through the exit out onto the wing and got out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Dramatic tales of survival. Just what brought down a passenger plane in Thailand?
Plus, hit job.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "The Sopranos."
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "The Sopranos."
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The cast of "The Sopranos."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: The mob show cleans up at the Emmys.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SALLY FIELD, ACTRESS: I am proud to be one of those women.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: And why other stars got the mute button on this AMERICAN MORNING. An awful lot going on. An awful lot to get to today. Thanks very much for joining us. It is Monday, the 17th of September. I'm John Roberts.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Kiran Chetry.
Whoever was operating the mute button was working overtime at the Emmys yesterday.
ROBERTS: Fast as he could (ph), breaking a sweat last night.
CHETRY: Yes, we're going to bring you all the highlights.
But, meanwhile, our top story, O.J. Simpson. He's sitting in a Las Vegas jail cell right now for his part in an alleged break in and robbery. And today there is a newly released audiotape by tmz.com that appears to capture Simpson in a confrontation with memorabilia dealers. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SIMPSON: Don't let nobody out of this room. (BLEEP). Think you can steal my (BLEEP) and sell it?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.
SIMPSON: Don't let nobody out of here. (BLEEP), you think you can steal my (BLEEP).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: There's a portion of that audiotape. AMERICAN MORNING's Chris Lawrence is in Las Vegas this morning with the latest developments in this new O.J. saga.
Good morning, Chris.
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kiran.
Yes, that tape was recorded by Thomas Richio (ph), who met up with Simpson just before that confrontation at the Palace Station Casino last week. Apparently Richio turned on his digital voice recorder just before Simpson and the other men entered the room.
A little bit of background. Richio owns an auction house. And apparently he was going with Simpson to help him prove that the men inside had memorabilia that they were not authorized to sell. Richio says he was under the impression that O.J. Simpson was going there to give one of the men an ultimatum, give O.J. Simpson the stuff back or that O.J. would call the cops.
Now the police took O.J. Simpson away in handcuffs on Sunday. He has been accused of conspiracy to commit robbery, burglary with a deadly weapon, two counts of assault, and the most serious charge, two counts of robbery with a deadly weapon that carries a sentence anywhere from three to 35 years in prison. Now legally it doesn't matter that Simpson himself never had the guns during this confrontation. Police say they seized two guns and other evidence.
But Simpson's lawyer says many of these witness statements are conflicting and they will fight these charges. He is working to get Simpson released. But right now O.J. Simpson remains in jail, held without bail until a hearing right now scheduled for Thursday.
Kiran.
CHETRY: OK. So at least until Thursday, O.J. Simpson remains behind bars. Bail was denied. All right, Chris Lawrence live with the latest for us there. Thank you.
John.
ROBERTS: Investigators in Thailand have the flight data recorders and are digging through the wreckage of a passenger jet looking for more clues and more bodies. The so-called black boxes were recovered overnight. The latest count, 88 people are dead, including four Americans, and there are 40 survivors. They say the plane hit the ground in heavy rain storm at Phuket International Airport early Sunday and bounced, skidded off the runway, broke in two and burst into flames. The survivors are describing chaos and panic as they scrambled out of the burning wreckage. CNN's Andrew Stevens is live for us this morning in Phuket.
And, Andrew, when you look at the wreckage, the aftermath of that crash, it's amazing anybody got out alive.
ANDREW STEVENS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's a wonder anyone got out of that. That plane broke in two on impact against an embankment and burst into flames.
John, I've been talking to four or five survivors, very lucky survivors today. Some in hospital beds with what I would say were minor injuries considering what they've been through. And a couple who actually just walked out of that. And they were talking about a dead silence after the impact.
They said -- a Swedish man I was talking to said, he couldn't hear a thing. And all of a sudden the screaming started. And he said, I was sitting right next to the emergency exit. I got straight out and I stopped and I went back to help a couple of other people out.
One other guy I was speaking with, he was right in the middle. He said there was a tremendous bang. He started hearing people screaming. And he looked around him. And this is quite chilling. He said he saw people still strapped in their seats being engulfed by flames. He got out through a split in the fuselage.
Now at this stage, John, we don't know what happened here. But you mentioned that there was a rainstorm here. And certainly talking to people in Phuket, it seems like this was very severe weather. High winds, heavy rain, low visibility. Someone told me that once he had got out of the plane, he said the rain felt like hail. And it was almost driving sideways, to give you an idea of the strength of the winds and the rain that was going on there.
So at the moment we have 88 people dead. As you say, four Americans have been confirmed dead. Most of those dead are, in fact, non Thai nationals. Phuket, a very, very popular holiday destination, John. Some 50 people of the dead believed to have been come from Europe, from the Middle East, from Australia. The identification process is still going on. Still very much a day of mourning here.
ROBERTS: And as we know, Andrew, Phuket ravaged by that tsunami of a couple of years ago. Trying to get tourism back. This was a discount carrier that was involved in this crash. And it has again raised some controversy about these airlines.
STEVENS: Yes. It was a Thai discount carrier as well. In the last three or four years, there's been an explosion in the number of low-cost carriers here. It's right across the region. So what we're seeing is, in the last two or three years, about four crashes, John, and all have involved low-cost airlines. We have Indoughnata (ph) with Malaysia, with other countries as well. So questions are being raised.
Authorities say, listen, we regulate the planes. Whatever level carrier you are, it's regulated exactly the same. But certainly a lot of questions now being asked about just what they're doing and what may be being done to cut costs to stay competitive.
ROBERTS: Andrew Stevens for us this morning in Phuket, Thailand.
Andrew, thanks very much. We'll get back to you a little bit later on.
And also a little later on this morning on AMERICAN MORNING, we'll be talking one-on-one with a survivor of that crash.
Kiran.
CHETRY: All right.
Also new this morning, Senator Hillary Clinton taking another shot at universal health care. She's expected to unveil a $110 billion plan that requires everyone to have medical insurance. It offers federal subsidies to people to help pay for it.
CNN has also learning that Clinton's opponent, John Edwards, is updating his universal health care plans today. It would include cutting off health care for the president and Congress if a plan for all Americans is not passed by 2009.
And President Bush appears ready to nominate retired Federal Judge Michael Mukasey as the new attorney general today. Mukasey sentenced Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, who was accused of plotting to destroy New York landmarks, to life in prison. If confirmed by the Senate, Mukasey would replace Alberto Gonzales, who resigned last month after months of controversy over his handling of the firings of federal prosecutors and the president's domestic wiretapping program.
John.
ROBERTS: He is the man who's mouth moved markets for almost two decades. He battled through recessions and 9/11 to see the U.S. economy surge. Today, the former Federal Reserve chairman, Alan Greenspan's, book is coming out. Last night on "60 Minutes," he answered questions about a crisis for which he had no solution, the sub prime mortgage meltdown.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you knew these practices were going on, and even maybe just suspected that there was something illegal or shady, why didn't you speak out?
ALAN GREENSPAN, FORMER CHAIRMAN, FEDERAL RESERVE: Well, basically . . .
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You had a huge megaphone. People really listened to Alan Greenspan.
GREENSPAN: Well, I was aware a lot of these practices were going on. I have no notion of how significant they had become.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: "In the Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World," Greenspan looks back on his tenure and is critical of the Bush administration and the GOP saying they swapped principal for power. He was worried about deficit spend in the face of these tax cuts. The White House isn't keeping quiet. Ali Velshi has got the response and is checking the facts later on AMERICAN MORNING.
Two wildfires have some 2,000 people in California out of their homes this morning. One is burning more than 15,000 acres in the San Bernardino National Forest. Governor Schwarzenegger has declared a state of emergency for San Bernardino County. A smaller 1,000-acre fire in San Diego County is said to be 20 percent contained.
Kiran.
CHETRY: Well, time now for a look at some of the other stories that the AMERICAN MORNING team of correspondents are covering for us.
Rob Marciano at the CNN weather desk, tracking extreme weather and right now a little bit cold in the Northeast.
Are we well below average for this time of year, Rob?
(WEATHER REPORT)
ROBERTS: A fitting farewell for one of the most acclaimed series in TV history. "The Sopranos" was named the best dramatic series at the primetime Emmy Awards last night. It also won awards for directing and writing, wrapping up a 10-year run.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE, "THE SOPRANOS": The best part of it was the huge standing ovation that our cast got. That was -- that was really amazing. That was -- and that was just really fitting.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Some of the other Emmy winners, "30 Rock" for best comedy, America Ferrera from "Ugly Betty" and Ricky Gervais from the show "Extras" won for lead acting in a comedy series. Jane Spader, from "Boston Legal," beat out James Gandolfini for best dramatic actor. And Sally Field won best dramatic actress for her role on "Brothers & Sisters" and got the bleep button for her trouble.
CHETRY: She sure did. She got the sensors on her. We're going to explain why coming up a little bit later. She had a -- she had a controversial comment or two to make about the war during her speech. So we're going to show you a little bit of that coming up later.
Also our Lola Ogunnaike, she was there. And so they's going to give us some of the behind of the scenes dish.
ROBERTS: Lucky her. Looking forward to talking to her.
And the search for Steve Fossett tops your "Quick Hits" now. Rescue organizers will meet today to decide if they should keep searching. Fossett disappeared two weeks ago today. Volunteers have searched and re-searched an area nearly twice the size of New Jersey.
A deadly bus crash in Mexico to tell you about. The bus was carrying 35 passengers from the resort city of Puerto Vallarta to Guadalajara when police say it ran off of a mountain road and plunged into a ravine. At least 17 tourists were killed. Many of them had just arrived from Phoenix.
Well, you won't see a race car crash worse than this. We'll tell what you happened to the driver down under. Wow.
And O.J. Simpson once again in jail. A new audio tape surfacing tonight. How all of it affects his latest legal drama, next on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Fourteen minutes after the hour. Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. The most news in the morning here on CNN.
Some compelling shots this Monday morning come from a typhoon in South Korea. Typhoon Nari washed away roads and flooded farmland. Disaster officials say at least nine people dead there. Hundreds now homeless.
Cars were picked up by the flood waters, left in a pile. Take a look at. That after more than 15 inches of rain came down in the southern part of the country. It's making the search for survivors that much more difficult. As the cars were getting crushed, 15,000 air travelers were stranded, hundreds of international flights were canceled.
Kiran.
CHETRY: All right, John, thanks.
Well, O.J. Simpson under arrest, in jail this morning, charged with multiple felony counts for an alleged armed robbery involving his own memorabilia. Well now this morning O.J. in his own words. TMZ, the website, captured audio of the apparent robbery in a Vegas casino where O.J. can be clearly heard on the tape yelling about his memorabilia. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SIMPSON: Don't let nobody out of this room. (BLEEP). Think you can steal my (BLEEP) and sell it?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.
SIMPSON: Don't let nobody out of here. (BLEEP), you think you can steal my (BLEEP).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Well, there it is on tape. Ryan Smith, a sports attorney and BET talk show host.
Ryan, thanks for joining us this morning.
So now add into the mix this tape. As you hear that, how does it change the case?
RYAN SMITH, SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENT ATTORNEY: It makes him look guilty. It makes him look like a person who came in and forcibly tried to get his stuff, which is what robbery is all about. We're talking about robbery with a deadly weapon. So that's not something that you can kind of skate by on or come in, in a soft way. He comes in with a bunch of thugs behind him allegedly and tries to force his way to get his stuff. And that's a big problem for him now.
CHETRY: Now by dealing in this tape, how does it change things? If you were to defend him, now there's a record where you can clearly hear the anger. He was trying to say in some of the interviews he's given, which he probably shouldn't have done either, that he was just trying to talk to them and explain to them that he needed his stuff back.
SMITH: That doesn't sound like somebody's trying to talk and explain. But if I'm his defense attorney, the biggest thing a defense attorney is going to rely on here are the fact that there's a lot of conflicting witnesses. You have witnesses who say at first they tried to take the stuff and then he said, no, there was some confusion. So if I'm his lawyer I would say, well this shows a lot of confusion. This shows that he's trying to work it out. It doesn't matter that he's maybe cursing here or cursing there. What matters is he's trying to get his stuff back. And no one really understand what's the situation is.
CHETRY: All right. Let's listen to a little bit more of the tape.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (BLEEP) you. Mind your own business.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look at this (BLEEP).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get over there.
SIMPSON: You think you can steal my (BLEEP)?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Backs to the wall.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was trying to get past you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Walk your ass over there.
SIMPSON: Think you can steal my (BLEEP)?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mike took it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You, against the (BLEEP) wall.
SIMPSON: I know (BLEEP) Mike took it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Search him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I know what Brian's trying to prove.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm cool. I am.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stand up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, so.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get your (BLEEP) asses up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stand the (BLEEP) up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: All right. So there are a lot of voices. It as unknown, unknown, unknown, but you can clearly hear O.J., who appears to be the ring leader. And you hear things like, get your back up against the wall. How do you get past that? I mean, if you're a defense attorney and you hear this, does it change it for you of trying to plead not guilty?
SMITH: All you're trying to show if you're a defense attorney is that he was agitated because he thought it was his stuff. And you can't prove that O.J. himself is pushing people around. You hear a lot of commotion there. You can't tie that directly to O.J. necessarily based on that tape. All you can tie to him is the fact that he was agitated. So that's what I would say if I was a defense attorney. But it looks bad because of the commotion and because he looks like the ringleader. And that's contrary to his original story where he said, I basically didn't have much to do with it. I had . . .
CHETRY: And I had no idea there were guns.
SMITH: Right.
CHETRY: The other thing is, why do we know all this? Because O.J. seems to be at it again. He's taking calls from reporters. He spoke to our own CNN's Ted Rowlands. He spoke to the Associated Pres. If you're a defense attorney, what do you say to your client who's giving multiple stories out?
SMITH: Please stop talking. I don't know what it is with O.J. I think O.J. feels the need to constantly defend himself. And I think he thinks he is his own best advocate. And he gets the lawyers and other people involved later. He has to learn that in these cases the best defense is to say nothing. Because the more he says, the more trouble he gets in.
CHETRY: Right because all of that can then be used against him in court.
SMITH: Right. Exactly.
CHETRY: All right. Real quick, is he going to get bail this Thursday? He's in jail right now, denied bail.
SMITH: There's a really good chance that he won't because he's a flight risk. And the question is, even if he gets bail, can he pay for it? But O.J. has a lot of friends and a lot of people who might put it up for him. So if he does get bail, there's a chance he's going to get out. But the bail, I would think, will be pretty high.
CHETRY: Ryan Smith, a sports attorney, BET talk show host, thanks for being us with.
SMITH: Thank you.
CHETRY: John.
ROBERTS: Paid for performance, your "Quick Hits" now. The Defense Department is moving to a merit based pay system for civilian workers. The DOD says it links pay raises to performance. But workers worry that it won't be implemented fairly and is being used as a way to save money.
Talks between General Motors and the United Auto Workers Union will pick up later on today after going well into the wee hours of this morning. They're negotiating a new contract. Automakers say their labor costs should be closer to what their Japanese rivals pay.
A death defying wreck. An Australian drag race driver crashes at 300 miles an hour and remarkably walks away from the screen. And Alan Greenspan's new book is coming out today. It's already causing quite a stir. The life-long Republican taking shots at the Bush administration. Ali Velshi with more on the former Fed chair's new tell-all. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. Check this out. You've seen drivers walk away from crashes. But that one? This video is really something.
It happened at the Australian drag race championships over the weekend. It is being called one of the worst accidents in drag race history. Literally the car catches fire, falls apart as it tumbles through the air. All you saw there was two wheels. The driver, though, survived this crash. It was more than 300 miles an hour. His dragster snapped in half. It was lifted in the air, burst into flames. There you see it going down again.
ROBERTS: The wheels just come off.
CHETRY: It almost looks like it just disintegrates. It doesn't even look like it hit anything before it disintegrates. This driver, by the way, escaped with nothing more than a cut on his finger.
ROBERTS: Unbelievable. Wow. That's in a place where a car doesn't normally come apart. Sometimes the fly wheel blows out of the engine and cuts the car. But that looked like it was (INAUDIBLE) wheels.
CHETRY: It just literally looked like he was driving and it just disintegrated.
ROBERTS: It just took off, yes. Unbelievable.
CHETRY: Well, it's 24 minutes past the hour now and Ali Velshi is here as well.
ROBERTS: Yes. So we've got this new book out by Alan Greenspan.
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Alan Greenspan's new book. It's called "The Age of Turbulence."
ROBERTS: "The Age of Turbulence."
VELSHI: Now Alan Greenspan is a conservative. He is a Republican. But I guess if you want to sell these books, and he got a several million dollar advance on this, it comes out today. He came out swinging against the Bush administration. He says they were so caught up in fulfilling their campaign promise that they forgot about being fiscal conservatives. Here's what he said. He said that "Congress and the president viewed budgetary restraint as inhibiting the legislation they wanted. Deficits don't matter, to my chagrin, became pat of the Republican rhetoric."
Now one of the several interviews he's given on "60 Minutes" last night, this is what he said about his old friend Dick Cheney and deficits.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALAN GREENSPAN, FORMER CHAIRMAN, FEDERAL RESERVE: Well, remember that their economic policy largely was to take the proposals made during the campaign, when there was a perspective very large surplus, and that those policies continued in place irrespective of what was happening to the surplus.
I would assume much less focused on restraining spending than I would have liked.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, actually, Cheney has said deficits don't matter.
GREENSPAN: Well, I think he was mistaken on that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: The Bush administration came in with a surplus from the Clinton administration. It is since ballooned into quite a deficit. The White House has responded to this by saying deficits were mostly caused by, a, the recession we were handed at the beginning of the administration, b, increased spending to fight the war on terror. And they also said we're not going to apologized for increase spending to protect our national security. This isn't just increased spending, it's an investment in the safety and security of the nation, which is also, by the way, an important economic objective.
The White House saying, we were handed the recession. Greenspan goes to great length, 500 pages worth of it, to say a lot of things, including the fact that they were not handed a recession. They spent too much money. They implemented these tax cuts, which he recommended against doing.
CHETRY: It wasn't guns or butter, it was guns and butter.
VELSHI: Guns and butter, that's exactly right. A very interesting read. A lot of nuances. We'll be covering it a lot more through the course of the morning.
ROBERTS: Yes, we'll be hearing a lot more about that coming up this morning, including an interview with the author of a "Newsweek" article who sat down to talk with Greenspan.
VELSHI: That's right.
ROBERTS: So, Ali, thanks very much.
CHETRY: And right now a story coming up that you can't miss. Well, the Emmy sensors got quite a workout yesterday on last night's show. Three different people. They had to . . .
ROBERTS: Repetitive screen injury for some of these guys.
CHETRY: That's right. ROBERTS: Actress Sally Field was bleeped during her acceptance speech for lead actress in a drama. We'll tell you why and what went down. Those stories and more when AMERICAN MORNING continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN NEWS ANCHOR: Welcome back to "AMERICAN MORNING." It is 6:30 a.m. in Philadelphia. This is a shot of the Philadelphia skyline coming to us from WPBI, as Rob Marciano is talking some below average temperatures for the middle of September. 50 degrees right now in Philly. And a lot of places up and down the East Coast shaping up to be 72 degrees and sunny. A nice one. Just pack a sweater.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN NEWS ANCHOR: I'll tell you, September comes along and somebody turns the big switch to fall.
CHETRY: Exactly. It feels good, though, when fall is in the air.
It's Monday, September 17th. Glad you're with us. I'm Kiran Chetry.
ROBERTS: Good morning. I'm John Roberts.
New this morning, a ruling against Microsoft. A European Union court upheld an antitrust order in and $613 million fine against Microsoft. /the court said Microsoft is guilty of using monopoly power because consumers who buy the Window operating system have no choice but to take the windows media player that is included with it. The company can still appeal to the E.U.'s highest court.
France says the world should be prepared for war if Iran builds a nuclear weapon. French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner says Europe might come up with its own sanctions if Iran keeps ignoring U.N. sanctions to demand it stop enriching uranium. He did not elaborate on the war talk though
CHETRY: Well, O.J. Simpson is in jail this morning and there is a new audio tape that's emerged overnight that shows his part in a break in and robbery. The new audio tape was released by tmz.com and it appears to capture Simpson yelling at memorabilia dealers who he believed were trying to sell his stolen property.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
O.J. SIMPSON, FORMER PRO FOOTBALL PLAYER & ACTOR: Don't let nobody out this room. Mother (bleep). Think you can steel my (bleep) and sell it?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.
SIMPSON: Don't let nobody out of here. Mother (bleep), you think you can steal my (bleep) (END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Well a bail hearing for Simpson is set for later this week. We'll have more on throughout the morning.
A second shot at universal health care comes from Senator Hillary Clinton's camp. She is expected to unveil a $110 billion plan that requires everyone have medical insurance and offers federal subsidies to help people who need it to pay for it. It's her first attempt at it since the one that fell through during her husband's administration.
You can see it all live on our website CNN.com. We'll have complete live coverage of Hillary Clinton's health care announcement. It's happening this morning at 11:30 eastern. Head to CNN.com and follow the links to the live event.
And John Edwards is expected to up the ante when he outlines his own universal health care plan today as well. Campaign sources say that he wants to cut off medical coverage for the president and members of Congress and all political appointees in mid 2009 if they don't figure out a way to give it to everyone else.
In Iowa on Sunday, Edwards also took a shot at his opponent's plan.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN EDWARDS, (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: In my belief, we have wonderful people running for president. But I have a very strong view about this. I don't believe you can sit at a table with drug companies, insurance companies and their lobbyists and negotiate an insurance plan for America. I don't believe you can give these people and their lobbyists a seat at the table because if you give them a seat at the table, they'll take all the food. There will be nothing left for the rest of America.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd, also said it was shameful that close to 50 million Americans are still uninsured.
President Bush says that he found his new attorney general. He's expected to announce in a Rose Garden ceremony this morning he picked retired Federal Judge Michael Mukasey to replace Alberto Gonzales.
For a look at who Mukasey is, and why some conservatives are already taking aim at him, we go to Justice Correspondent Kelli Arena, live in our Washington Bureau.
Good morning, Kelli.
KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kiran. There are a lot of people looking to get this ball rolling. As you said, we do expect an announcement mid morning at the Rose Garden. Michael Mukasey, who is he? He's a retired federal judge from New York. He's possibly best known when he was from his time as chief judge in Manhattan. There's a really busy federal docket there, Kiran. He handled some very high-profile terrorism cases, including the trial of Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman. You may know him as the blind Sheikh. He was accused of plotting to destroy New York City landmarks. Mukasey put him in prison for life.
After 18 years on the bench, Mukasey retired and currently he is advising Rudy Giuliani. Now conservatives are somewhat disappointed in this pick because they were rooting for Ted Olson, the former solicitor general. They're a little suspect because Mukasey gets high marks from liberals, Chuck Schumer, the Democratic Senator from New York, for one. He put out a statement yesterday saying he could be -- Mukasey could be depended on to put the rule of law first. As you know, Schumer is one of Alberto Gonzales' biggest critics.
But no one is arguing too hard against Mukasey's credentials. At the end of the day it does seem very likely he'll get confirmed without too much of a problem -- Kiran?
CHETRY: Have you been able to get a sense of the feelings of Mukasey at the Department of Justice?
ARENA: His name has been on that short list that's been circulating for some time. According to the folks that I spoke to, there was a general belief that A, he's qualified, that he's well aware of the legal challenges in the war on terror. He's got management experience from his time as chief judge. Mostly, you know, the folks at main Justice are just ready to move on. The sooner there's an announcement and a confirmation, the better.
All right, Kelli Arena for us in Washington. Thanks.
ARENA: You're welcome.
ROBERTS: Investigators in Thailand have recovered the flight data recorders overnight from the one-two-go plane that crashed in Phuket. The plane came down in a heavy rain storm. The Associated Press this morning is quoting an aviation official who says he thinks wind shear may have played a role. At least 88 people are dead, including four Americans, and one American is among the 40 survivors. They are describing a scene of unbelievable terror as they escaped the burning wreckage.
Millie Furlong, a Canadian from British Columbia is one of the survivors. She joins us on the telephone.
Millie, can you hear me?
MILLIE FURLONG, AIRPLANE PASSENGER: Yes, I can.
ROBERT: Millie, are you still in the hospital or did you just get out of the hospital? What were the extent of your injuries?
FURLONG: I'm still in the hospital. My injuries are minor. But they're keeping -- they're trying to keep everybody in just for a couple days because of the smoke inhalation that everybody experienced.
ROBERTS: Right. What do you remember...
FURLONG: (Inaudible).
ROBERTS: What do you remember of the landing, Millie, as you were coming down from the clouds to land at the Phuket Airport?
FURLONG: Well, at first he tried to land normally. But the wind was so bad. You could see the trees, palm trees bending back and the palms were blowing straight backwards and the wind and THE rain and everything. He missed the runway, I guess. He almost touched down and then he pulled back up. He started to circle right. I thought we were going to maybe try again or something or maybe try for another runway. I wasn't sure what was happening. And then I looked down and I saw grass. And then he dropped suddenly and a sharp right and then he hit. And he hit again and bounced into a cliff, a hill, sorry, a hill.
ROBERTS: You instinctively put your head down between your knees. What do you remember of the impact, Millie?
FURLONG: Just like everything flying everywhere -- debris. It was just black and smoke came right away. The smoke was instantaneous. And I just remember looking up and seeing the oxygen mask and plastic just flying everywhere and just this sound that's just like you can hear the ground and everything. And then I just -- and then I started seeing flames and the people.
ROBERTS: You know, we're looking at some pictures here, Millie of the wreckage. This would have been sometime after it crashed, just engulfed in flames. An entire section of the aircraft crushed and another part where the roof of the aircraft is burned out. What was happening in your immediate area?
FURLONG: Well, I was in the area where it is on fire there. I was right across from that. I was in that section right across from that on the plane, that section that's left. If you see it in the pictures, the door that is open, I was at the seat right in front of that door. And then the girl was right behind my seat. And then one of the guys that was sitting in that seat had kicked the door open. And I got out through that emergency exit.
ROBERTS: And what else did you see going on around you at the time?
FURLONG: Well, at the time when I first looked up there were planes came barreling towards us from the front where the cabin used to be. Then the flames, they were like burning people and their clothes. And then I stepped back. I looked to my right to see if the people beside me if they were getting out of -- if they could get out. And you could see people fleeing and all I saw was flames.
ROBERTS: Oh, my goodness. Millie, obviously this is something that's going to change your life. How long you are going to be there? When will you have a chance to go home?
FURLONG: I'm not sure. I'm just in contact with my embassy. I have to get a passport first. Obviously, all my stuff was on the plane. So everything is gone now. So they're working that out with me and then back home to talk to my family. They would love to see me back as soon as possible.
ROBERTS: You were one incredibly lucky young woman. Millie Furlong from Colona, British Columbia, thank you for joining us. All the best you to. I hope you get out of the hospital soon and get home.
FURLONG: Thank you.
ROBERTS: Thanks very much. Wow.
FURLONG: Thank you.
CHETRY: It is amazing, in a plane you have 88 people that don't make it, 50-some that do make it. It really is a roll of the die, where you're sitting and whether or not you're able to run.
ROBERTS: She happened to be in that one part of the plane that was reasonably intact and got out that exit door because it was right behind her. She is so fortunate. Unbelievable.
CHETRY: She sure is.
Still ahead, there was a lot of cursing and a fond farewell for the "Sopranos." The Emmy awards wrap-up coming up.
Thunderstorms rolled through, penny-sized hail pelting the area. A fast-moving tornado knocking things around in Florida. We're going to get the full forecast with Rob Marciano coming up ahead on "AMERICAN MORNING."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Wow. Look at that sunrise. 42 minutes after the hour. Guess where that is?
CHETRY: New York City.
ROBERTS: New York City, yeah. Looking east across the Upper East Side toward Long Island Sound over LaGuardia Airport. Looks like it's going to be a nice day there today. Great day to get out and enjoy a last bit of summer before it turns into fall.
Rob Marciano checking the extreme weather for us in Atlanta.
Florida looked like they got hit yesterday, Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: A little action in Florida, yes. John, good morning.
(WEATHER REPORT) CHETRY: How about that -- when does fall start, September 21st?
MARCIANO: 21st or 22nd, I haven't checked the calendar, but around about then.
CHETRY: Somewhere around there. All right, thanks, Rob.
Remember that bathroom where Idaho Senator Larry Craig got into so much trouble? Apparently, now it's a tourist hot spot. People are bugging workers at the Minneapolis Airport, hey, show me the bathroom. We want to take some pictures of the stall where Senator Craig was caught in a sex sting. Craig, of course, was planning to resign and then requested now to withdraw his guilty plea to disorderly conduct. That case will be heard on September 26. He is still facing an ethics hearing. For now, he is staying in the Senate.
Sweet revenge at the box office. Your "Quick Hits" now. Jody Foster's vigilante thriller, "The Brave One," taking in $14 million. It was the weekend's top grossing winner. Last week's winner, "310 to Yuma" was in second place with $9 million. "Mr. Woodcock," "Drag on Wars" and "Super Bad" rounding out the top five.
Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway has been named the world's most respected company by "Barons" magazine. Buffet's company moved up from fifth place last year. He is considered by many to be the world's greatest investor. "Barons' " annual rankings of the 100 largest companies are based on a survey of U.S. money managers.
If you think you're safe when you see the bat mobile cruising down the streets, wait until you see the guy behind the wheel of this one. He is a comic book fanatic taking it to a whole new level. We're going to talk more about who he is and why he drives around in a bat mobile coming up.
Also the "Sopranos" go out on a high note. Some of the stars got acceptance speeches censored. We're going to show you some of the speeches and tell what you happened at the Emmys coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: 49 minutes after the hour. Welcome back to the most news in the morning. You "Quick Hits" now. The childhood staple, the peanut butter and jelly sandwich is banned at an elementary school in O'Fallon, Missouri. The move is an effort to protect a growing number of students with peanut allergies who can have severe reaction with exposure to peanuts or peanut butter. Better safe than sorry they think there.
Soda is also getting harder to find in schools. Fewer soft drinks are going into school vending machines. Many schools ban sodas and the beverage industry is pulling non-diet sodas from most schools in favor of healthier drinks like juices.
Kiran?
CHETRY: All right, thanks, John. At the Emmy awards last night, there was a lot of foul language. This was even before the "Sopranos" won for best drama.
Our Lola Ogunnaike is here and she joins us with our round up.
Good to see you this morning.
LOLA OGUNNAIKE, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Good to see you too.
CHETRY: So you're vindicated. You liked "The Sopranos" ending. So did the Emmy voters. It won for best drama.
OGUNNAIKE: It won. But the "Sopranos" didn't do well overall. They were the huge shutout of the evening. James Gandolfini lost to James Spader, which was surprising. And Michael Imperioli nominated, did not win. Lorraine Bracco, Aida Tuturro, all did not win. Edie Falco also shutout. So it was really shocking.
CHETRY: So they sort of gave the overall prize of best drama. There was tough competition in the categories, a lot of great shows this year.
OGUNNAIKE: A lot of great shows. A lot of the first-time shows won this year, you know, America Ferrera won for "Ugly Betty." But also "30 Rock," that was also a huge surprise. This show was this close to being canceled. It managed to eke out the big prize. Even Tina Faye acknowledged she thinks there are dozens and dozens of viewers, but even she acknowledged that the ratings are low. But it is a critical favorite.
CHETRY: Yeah, it has gotten a lot of buzz.
OGUNNAIKE: And this should bolster their ratings actually.
CHETRY: The other thing you couldn't miss was the fact that the sensors with the mute buttons were working overtime. Sally Field, who won yesterday, she -- what did she win for, drama?
OGUNNAIKE: Yeah. Best drama.
CHETRY: She came up to give her speech. Of course, years ago, she had the speech they-really-like-me speech. This one was quite different.
OGUNNAIKE: They did not like her this year.
CHETRY: Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SALLY FIELD, ACTRESS: Let's face it, if the mothers ruled the world, there would be no...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: She said if the mothers ruled the world there would be no GD war. OGUNNAIKE: Exactly. And that looked like the "Sopranos" ending.
CHETRY: And that's when it shut off.
OGUNNAIKE: It just faded to black all of a sudden.
CHETRY: What was the reaction?
OGUNNAIKE: The reaction is one of shock. But I also think she said I was not making a political statement. She was saying she was trying to support the mothers that have sons in the war, like her character she plays in "Brothers and Sisters." Any statement like that is going to be received as a political statement. So to try and back pedal backstage, not necessarily genuine, I don't think.
CHETRY: And at times, she seemed rambling and a little bit lost during her speech as well. She, like, yelled at the audience at one point to stop cheering.
OGUNNAIKE: Yeah. Her other speech, which she is famous for, she was screeching and cloying and, this time around, she just seemed really discombobulated. So maybe she'll get it right next time.
CHETRY: There were two others that cursed. Kathleen Heigl and someone else, they also got censored.
OGUNNAIKE: They did. There was a little quick beep. The Kathleen Heigl thing, blink and you missed it. But it was actually out. There I think people get comfortable, they're in the zone. They're not quite aware of what is going on. Things just come out. And thank God the censors are there. They're working overtime. They don't want anything to happen right now. The FCC is all over this and they're playing close attention to what is going on.
CHETRY: Of course. All in all, how do you think it ranked in terms of award shows?
OGUNNAIKE: Didn't love it. Fell asleep at some points. You know, Ryan Seacrest didn't keep it going. I preferred Ellen DeGeneres' performance last year. Hopefully they can bring her back or someone who can just keep the energy up.
CHETRY: Right.
OGUNNAIKE: And the round stage also didn't work. It worked visually for the viewer. But right there, people that were in the show were watching people's backs the entire time.
CHETRY: A few of the presenters did comment. I felt Ryan did the best he could. He's not a comedian. He said that going in. They did use a couple bits from "Ellen" and "Ray Romano." So it was interesting how they worked it this year.
Lola, thank you very much.
OGUNNAIKE: Thank you. CHETRY: John?
ROBERTS: It is a television show after all.
John McCain is declaring his religion, although a different religion than we're used to. McCain said this weekend that is a Baptist, and has been one for years. McCain has long identified himself as Episcopalian. Now he says he's a member of the North Phoenix Baptist Church in Arizona. He said this while in South Carolina, which just happens to be a heavily Baptist state.
Living every kids' dream. He is a grown man. One guy loved the bat mobile so much he bought it. The flaming turbine-powered super car hits the road. That's coming up.
And Alan Greenspan's book is coming out today. It's already causing quite a stir. Some critics hold him responsible for the current woes in the housing market. We'll speak to the journalist who wrote the cover story on Greenspan in the current edition of "Newsweek" magazine. That's ahead on "AMERICAN MORNING."
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ROBERTS: Albuquerque, New Mexico, isn't quite Gotham City. You'll see the bat mobile patrolling town. One comic book guy owns it. He even has his own bat cave. It is a model from the '60s series, all the way to the bat signals and the hubcaps, just with New Mexico plates on it now.
CHETRY: How about that? Aren't you asking to get pulled over, though?
ROBERTS: Yeah.
CHETRY: Hey, officer. I might be going over the speed limit. And I have my own siren. I can pull you over, too.
ROBERTS: When I was a 10-year-old kid that, was a very cool car. But...
CHETRY: But now? No?
ROBERTS: Not so much.
CHETRY: Even if you had the whole money in the world you wouldn't drive a bat mobile to work?
CHETRY: No, unless the bat mobile was an Aston Martin DV9.
ALI VELSHI, CNN SENIOR FINANCIAL ANALYST: Or a German something else (ph).
ROBERTS: Yeah, I would definitely do it.
CHETRY: Hey, Ali. Good to see you this morning. You been doing heavy reading? VELSHI: Yeah, I really have. Even I can't read this fast. I just got Alan Greenspan's book yesterday. This is his new book. It's out today. You can buy it. And it has lots of really good interesting things. We were discussing earlier that he had some criticisms of the Bush administration. But really, that's history. Now we're looking at what he's got to say. This is the guy that Americans want to know what he has to say about what's going on right now.
If you go to cnn.money.com, the managing editor at "Fortune" has an interview with him where he asks him questions about what is going to be going on right now. Here's what he says about the housing market. Because that's what you're interested in. What does the maestro, what does Alan Greenspan have to say about housing?
He says, "We do know that the housing market has a significant way to go on the down size. The real issue, however, is whether house price declines spill over into consumer expenditures as they did on the upside, and cause the economy to shrink."
Andy also asked him what Americans should be most worried about right now. And his response is that "That we have a dysfunctional political system in the sense that there are very serious fiscal problems out there, most importantly Medicare. As best as I can judge, when the baby room retires we are either going to have to raise taxes very sharply or cut benefits by half."
He also says that no politician wants to confront this issue. So he's saying housing is not the main thing to worry about. Medicare is a bigger deal.
CHETRY: All right. Cool. So we can read Andy's interview about that on cnn.com.
VELSHI: On cnnmoney.com.
CHETRY: Sounds good. Thanks, Ali.
VELSHI: Yeah.
CHETRY: The next hour of "AMERICAN MORNING" starts right now.
ROBERTS: O.J. in jail. This morning, apparently on tape.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SIMPSON: Don't let nobody out this room. Mother (bleep). Think you can steal my (bleep) and sell it?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: The brand new recording released overnight that could doom his defense.
Parting shots.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALAN GREENSPAN, FORMER CHIEF, FEDERAL RESERVE: That's what the Bush administration interpreted, but I never said -- I was in favor of a tax cut.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Former Fed Chief Alan Greenspan takes aim. But will his words today matter come election time?
Plus, CNN exclusive...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Was Kate overwhelmed by the children as this report about the diaries suggests?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Friends of Madeleine McCann's mother speak out while the family plots its media comeback, on this "AMERICAN MORNING."
Boy, a wakeup on Monday morning and there is so much happening. We've got it all for you here on this "AMERICAN MORNING."
Welcome back. Thanks for joining us. Monday, September the 17th. I'm John Roberts.
CHETRY: And I'm Kiran Chetry.
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